First Merchants Corp Makes New $252,000 Investment in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH)

First Merchants Corp bought a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,132 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MWA Asset Management raised its position in Cardinal Health by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 3,324 shares of the company's stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its position in Cardinal Health by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 10,792 shares of the company's stock worth $1,193,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Cardinal Health by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 253 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Cardinal Health by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 464 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Patron Partners LLC raised its position in Cardinal Health by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 2,043 shares of the company's stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on CAH. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $144.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $136.87.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

CAH traded up $0.14 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $126.35. The stock had a trading volume of 1,813,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,387. The company has a market capitalization of $30.52 billion, a PE ratio of 23.57, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.63. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a twelve month low of $93.17 and a twelve month high of $132.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.57.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.19. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.59% and a negative return on equity of 59.57%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.5056 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Cardinal Health's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.69%.

About Cardinal Health

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.