Legal & General Group Plc Purchases Shares of 1,847,406 Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc acquired 1.85 million Cardinal Health shares in the second quarter, worth approximately $438.9 million and representing a 0.79% stake. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 87.17% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 16 Buy ratings and three Holds, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $266.56. Recent targets from TD Cowen and Citigroup reached $280.
• Cardinal Health exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $2.91 in EPS versus the $2.42 consensus, while revenue rose 5.8% year over year to $63.67 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.5158 per share, yielding about 0.9%.

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,847,406 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $438,870,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.79% of Cardinal Health at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CAH. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Cardinal Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Cardinal Health by 198.3% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 21,112 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 14,034 shares during the period. Palladiem LLC acquired a new stake in Cardinal Health during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Cardinal Health in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $276.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cardinal Health from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered Cardinal Health from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Cardinal Health from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $266.56.

Insider Transactions at Cardinal Health

In other news, CEO Jason M. Hollar sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.74, for a total value of $18,859,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 235,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,430,017.68. This trade represents a 25.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Deborah Weitzman sold 7,354 shares of Cardinal Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.45, for a total transaction of $1,731,499.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 77,901 shares in the company, valued at $18,341,790.45. This trade represents a 8.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 210,271 shares of company stock valued at $49,626,657. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Cardinal Health Price Performance

Shares of CAH opened at $238.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $232.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $218.18. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a one year low of $145.87 and a one year high of $258.30. The company has a market cap of $55.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.49.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.49. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 98.53% and a net margin of 0.67%.The firm had revenue of $63.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.08 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Cardinal Health has set its FY 2027 guidance at 12.400-12.600 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 12.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a $0.5158 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Cardinal Health's payout ratio is currently 28.49%.

Cardinal Health 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.

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