Park Avenue Securities LLC Increases Stock Position in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH)

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH - Free Report) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,426 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,643 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $2,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CAH. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cardinal Health in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cardinal Health by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 253 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in Cardinal Health during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cardinal Health in the third quarter worth $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company's stock.

Cardinal Health Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE CAH traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $126.27. 1,642,944 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,877,583. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $120.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $111.81. The company has a market capitalization of $30.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.63. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.17 and a 52-week high of $127.27.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.56% and a negative return on equity of 56.56%. The firm had revenue of $52.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.5056 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Cardinal Health's payout ratio is 39.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Cardinal Health from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America upgraded Cardinal Health from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $132.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $101.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $127.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Cardinal Health from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cardinal Health presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $133.29.

Cardinal Health Company Profile

Cardinal Health, Inc operates as a healthcare services and products company in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It provides customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, physician offices, and patients in the home.