Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.51

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.5056 per share on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st.

Cardinal Health has increased its dividend by an average of 1.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 28 consecutive years. Cardinal Health has a dividend payout ratio of 22.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Cardinal Health to earn $8.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.6%.

Cardinal Health Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CAH opened at $136.43 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.45, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.80. Cardinal Health has a 12-month low of $93.17 and a 12-month high of $137.18.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.19. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 59.57% and a net margin of 0.59%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cardinal Health will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CAH. Citigroup increased their target price on Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cardinal Health from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus set a $148.00 target price on Cardinal Health in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Cardinal Health from $142.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $139.36.

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.