Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Sells 10,984 Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 45.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,422 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,984 shares during the period. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $2,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAH. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 1.7% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 20,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,183,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Fieldview Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Cardinal Health in the 3rd quarter worth about $486,000. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 10.9% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 561,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,810,000 after acquiring an additional 55,155 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 16,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,661,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its position in Cardinal Health by 6.5% during the third quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 21,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,348,000 after buying an additional 1,304 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $244.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Cardinal Health from $209.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $255.00 target price on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $252.00 price target on shares of Cardinal Health in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $245.67.

Cardinal Health Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:CAH opened at $222.30 on Tuesday. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.72 and a 12-month high of $233.60. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $215.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $190.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.99, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Cardinal Health Dividend Announcement

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