Cardinal Health Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CAH)

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 11,036 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 379% compared to the average daily volume of 2,306 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on CAH shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cardinal Health from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $139.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, November 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $117.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cardinal Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $127.50.

Institutional Trading of Cardinal Health

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the second quarter worth approximately $74,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 97.0% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,069,000 after buying an additional 5,353 shares during the period. IFG Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the 2nd quarter worth $219,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 1.5% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 77,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,623,000 after buying an additional 1,177 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 10.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 30,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,998,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Trading Up 0.2 %

Cardinal Health stock traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $118.10. The stock had a trading volume of 516,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,103,581. Cardinal Health has a one year low of $93.17 and a one year high of $126.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $118.27 and its 200 day moving average is $110.00.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $52.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.90 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 56.56% and a net margin of 0.56%. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cardinal Health will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.5056 per share. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.30%.

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.