Equitable Trust Co. Sells 823 Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH)

Equitable Trust Co. trimmed its position in shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 22.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,812 shares of the company’s stock after selling 823 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CAH. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Cardinal Health by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 12,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Cardinal Health by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 231,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,353,000 after purchasing an additional 14,623 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association grew its holdings in Cardinal Health by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 2,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP grew its holdings in Cardinal Health by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 166,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,648,000 after purchasing an additional 4,900 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Cardinal Health by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 433,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,754,000 after purchasing an additional 23,140 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CAH shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $180.00 price objective (up from $175.00) on shares of Cardinal Health in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Cardinal Health from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 target price (up previously from $157.00) on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cardinal Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $136.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Cardinal Health from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.07.

Cardinal Health Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE CAH opened at $157.10 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $159.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.65. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.05 and a twelve month high of $168.44. The company has a market capitalization of $37.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.51, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.68.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.20. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 68.84% and a net margin of 0.70%. The firm had revenue of $54.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st were paid a dividend of $0.5107 per share. This is a boost from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 1st. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.83%.

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.