Paragon Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH)

Paragon Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,758 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Paragon Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $1,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 9.9% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,099,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,022,000 after acquiring an additional 370,181 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Cardinal Health by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,723,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,585,000 after purchasing an additional 598,002 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Cardinal Health by 0.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,730,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,584,000 after purchasing an additional 14,030 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cardinal Health by 5.1% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,759,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,974,000 after purchasing an additional 85,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 7.1% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,683,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,517,000 after buying an additional 111,137 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CAH shares. Argus boosted their price objective on Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cardinal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $114.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $130.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.36.

Insider Transactions at Cardinal Health

In other news, CFO Aaron E. Alt sold 2,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.91, for a total value of $252,997.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 36,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,015,184.97. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Aaron E. Alt sold 2,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.91, for a total value of $252,997.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,015,184.97. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Michelle D. Greene sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.85, for a total value of $435,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,094,491.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 113,963 shares of company stock worth $12,379,980. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cardinal Health Trading Down 0.1 %

Cardinal Health stock opened at $110.21 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.90. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a 12-month low of $86.24 and a 12-month high of $116.05.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.10. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 54.85% and a net margin of 0.37%. The business had revenue of $59.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.506 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. This is a boost from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.78%.

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.