Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Short Interest Up 21.1% in March

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 6,045,787 shares, a growth of 21.1% from the February 26th total of 4,994,109 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,951,550 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cardinal Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cardinal Health by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 9,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Cardinal Health by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Cardinal Health by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,184,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR raised its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Stock Up 2.4%

Cardinal Health stock traded up $4.96 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $211.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,587,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,795,739. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $217.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.15. Cardinal Health has a 1 year low of $120.72 and a 1 year high of $233.60. The stock has a market cap of $49.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.65.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.32. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.5107 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is currently 29.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CAH shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Zacks Research upgraded Cardinal Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Evercore boosted their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $250.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cardinal Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.