Cardinal Health Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:CAH)

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 3,989 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 84% compared to the average volume of 2,171 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cardinal Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.5% during 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 last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 86.8% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 69,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,998,000 after acquiring an additional 32,250 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 237.7% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 171,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,290,000 after acquiring an additional 120,740 shares during the last quarter. Tobam raised its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 773.4% during the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 49,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,496,000 after acquiring an additional 43,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Cardinal Health by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 220,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,243,000 after purchasing an additional 24,222 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cardinal Health Price Performance

NYSE CAH traded up $4.42 on Wednesday, reaching $107.00. The company had a trading volume of 915,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,124,855. Cardinal Health has a 1 year low of $85.11 and a 1 year high of $116.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $98.80 and a 200-day moving average of $103.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.06 billion, a PE ratio of 45.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.12. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.25% and a negative return on equity of 54.74%. The business had revenue of $59.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cardinal Health will post 7.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on CAH shares. Argus dropped their target price on Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $96.00 to $94.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Cardinal Health from $129.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.67.

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.