Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Upgraded by Argus to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Argus upgraded shares of Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Cardinal Health from $185.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Cardinal Health in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Citigroup raised shares of Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $244.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $220.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $219.67.

Cardinal Health Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:CAH opened at $208.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.49 billion, a PE ratio of 31.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.65. Cardinal Health has a 1 year low of $120.72 and a 1 year high of $215.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $205.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.18.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $64.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.41 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 84.37% and a net margin of 0.68%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.88 earnings per share. Cardinal Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.650-9.850 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cardinal Health will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were issued a $0.5107 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio is 30.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Cardinal Health by 107.2% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 99,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,698,000 after acquiring an additional 51,416 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Cardinal Health by 298.3% during the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 821,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,978,000 after purchasing an additional 615,398 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Cardinal Health by 568.0% during the second quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 85,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,329,000 after purchasing an additional 72,525 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 19.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,930,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,402,000 after purchasing an additional 309,335 shares during the period. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 102.8% in the 3rd quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 36,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,734,000 after buying an additional 18,516 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

About Cardinal Health

Cardinal Health is a multinational healthcare services and products company headquartered in Dublin, Ohio. Tracing its roots to the early 1970s, the company has grown into a major provider of supply chain and distribution services for the healthcare sector. Cardinal Health operates across a range of service lines that support hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, physician offices and clinical laboratories.

The company’s core activities include the wholesale distribution of branded and generic pharmaceuticals, the supply and distribution of medical-surgical products, and the provision of logistics and inventory management solutions.