SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 3,829.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 727,511 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 708,995 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $149,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CAH. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Cardinal Health by 153.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,804,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,010,000 after purchasing an additional 3,511,579 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cardinal Health during the 2nd quarter worth about $584,420,000. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 141.4% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,926,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,332,000 after buying an additional 1,128,358 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 109.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,584,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,658,000 after buying an additional 827,446 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 44.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,284,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,165,000 after buying an additional 707,495 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on CAH shares. Barclays raised their target price on Cardinal Health from $243.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cardinal Health from $209.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird set a $252.00 price objective on Cardinal Health in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Leerink Partners reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on shares of Cardinal Health in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $190.00 to $244.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.67.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

Shares of CAH opened at $206.20 on Tuesday. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a one year low of $120.72 and a one year high of $233.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.67, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $217.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $195.13.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.32. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 92.50% and a net margin of 0.68%.The company had revenue of $65.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Cardinal Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.5107 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.35%.

About Cardinal Health

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.