The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 15,599 Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its Cardinal Health stake by 9.2%, selling 15,599 shares and retaining 154,649 shares worth approximately $32.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 87.17% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: 15 analysts rate Cardinal Health a Buy and three rate it Hold, resulting in a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $251.73.
• Cardinal Health shares opened at $230.18, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $3.17, exceeding estimates of $2.79. It also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.5158 per share, or $2.06 annually.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its stake in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH - Free Report) by 9.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 154,649 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,599 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.07% of Cardinal Health worth $32,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,441,258 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,461,179,000 after purchasing an additional 617,775 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,509,230 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,570,647,000 after purchasing an additional 221,497 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cardinal Health by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,529,013 shares of the company's stock worth $1,336,750,000 after purchasing an additional 43,924 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Cardinal Health by 153.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,804,090 shares of the company's stock worth $911,010,000 after purchasing an additional 3,511,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cardinal Health during the 4th quarter worth $790,344,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $248.00 price objective on Cardinal Health in a research report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Cardinal Health from $260.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Cardinal Health from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research cut Cardinal Health from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Cardinal Health from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $251.73.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

Shares of CAH stock opened at $230.18 on Friday. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.75 and a 52-week high of $243.21. The stock has a market cap of $53.91 billion, a PE ratio of 35.20, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.49. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $222.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $215.30.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $60.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.10 billion. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.62% and a negative return on equity of 92.61%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a $0.5158 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Cardinal Health's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Cardinal Health's dividend payout ratio is 31.50%.

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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