Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $22.94 Million Stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 22.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 510,922 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 150,458 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $22,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVS. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in CVS Health in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 255.7% in the fourth quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 626 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in CVS Health during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in CVS Health in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CVS has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Leerink Partners raised CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.83.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $556,941.90. This represents a 47.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CVS Health Trading Down 0.2 %

CVS stock opened at $65.63 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $58.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.60. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 1.24%. Analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.68%.

About CVS Health

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.