Royce & Associates LP Boosts Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 87,000 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $5,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in CVS Health in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CVS Health during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, First Community Trust NA raised its holdings in CVS Health by 116.2% in the second quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 562 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CVS shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Mizuho cut their price target on CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Barclays cut their target price on CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CVS Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.78.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of CVS opened at $56.08 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.80. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $52.71 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.60. The company has a market capitalization of $70.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.55.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $95.43 billion during 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 last year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.74%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 67.51%.

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.