Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH)

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 12,055 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 279% compared to the typical volume of 3,181 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $136.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America upgraded Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Cardinal Health from $117.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cardinal Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $135.64.

Cardinal Health Price Performance

CAH opened at $123.56 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $29.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $122.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.06. Cardinal Health has a 1 year low of $93.17 and a 1 year high of $132.84.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.19. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.56% and a negative return on equity of 56.56%. Equities analysts expect that Cardinal Health will post 7.84 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.5056 per share. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is 39.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cardinal Health

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAH. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Cardinal Health during the third quarter worth $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 69.8% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 253 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Cardinal Health in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in Cardinal Health in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

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.