Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Raises Holdings in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its position in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,981 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 98 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $1,651,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CAH. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cardinal Health in the 4th quarter worth $246,748,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Cardinal Health by 154.6% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,151,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $372,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,913,892 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cardinal Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $141,963,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Cardinal Health by 17,589.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 964,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,940,000 after purchasing an additional 959,486 shares during the period. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Cardinal Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $92,811,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CAH. Wall Street Zen raised Cardinal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Cardinal Health from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cardinal Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $136.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cardinal Health from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Cardinal Health from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.43.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

NYSE:CAH opened at $161.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.66. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a one year low of $93.17 and a one year high of $162.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $146.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $132.62.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $54.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.33 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 59.57% and a net margin of 0.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be paid a $0.5107 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. This is an increase from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 1st. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.83%.

Cardinal Health 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.