Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,430,000 shares, an increase of 8.2% from the May 31st total of 6,870,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,960,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAH has been the topic of several research reports. Argus cut their price objective on Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Cardinal Health from $134.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Cardinal Health from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com cut Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Cardinal Health from $96.00 to $94.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cardinal Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.67.

Cardinal Health Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE CAH traded down $0.97 on Tuesday, reaching $96.79. 624,167 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,203,670. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.45. The company has a market cap of $23.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.61. Cardinal Health has a 12 month low of $85.11 and a 12 month high of $116.04.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $54.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.05 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 54.74% and a net margin of 0.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cardinal Health will post 7.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.5056 per share. This is a boost from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.89%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cardinal Health

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cardinal Health in the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Cardinal Health by 86.8% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 69,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,998,000 after acquiring an additional 32,250 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Cardinal Health by 50.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 184,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,649,000 after acquiring an additional 61,933 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Cardinal Health by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 282,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,470,000 after acquiring an additional 38,769 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cardinal Health Company Profile

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.