Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 72,228 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 52.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 209,682 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 72,228 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $13,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in CVS Health by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 44,629 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after buying an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 2.4% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 87,000 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $5,471,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 33,660 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,472 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 40,064 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,519,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in CVS Health by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 36,020 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,263,000 after buying an additional 1,383 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on CVS. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com lowered CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on CVS Health from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $59.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.00.

CVS Health Price Performance

CVS stock opened at $54.33 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $52.77 and a 52 week high of $83.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.51%.

CVS Health Company Profile

CVS Health Corporation provides health solutions in the United States. It operates through Health Care Benefits, Health Services, and Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness segments. The Health Care Benefits segment offers traditional, voluntary, and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services.