Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 13.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,466 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,109 shares during the quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $10,589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Cardinal Health by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,823,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,838,054,000 after acquiring an additional 247,667 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 3.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,389,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,069,005,000 after purchasing an additional 205,539 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the second quarter worth about $584,420,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 7.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,037,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,347,000 after purchasing an additional 207,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,349,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,761,000 after purchasing an additional 45,812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Trading Down 3.1%

NYSE:CAH opened at $216.16 on Friday. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.72 and a 12-month high of $233.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.03. The firm has a market cap of $50.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.65.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $65.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.88 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 92.50% and a net margin of 0.68%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.5107 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is presently 29.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $252.00 price target on Cardinal Health in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Argus increased their price objective on Cardinal Health from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Evercore raised their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $250.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $209.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $220.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $245.67.

Cardinal Health Company Profile

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.