Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC Acquires 1,035 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 17.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,009 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in CVS Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in CVS Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in CVS Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. First Community Trust NA grew its stake 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 during the period. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in CVS Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CVS shares. TD Cowen raised CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.28.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.6 %

CVS stock opened at $58.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $73.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. CVS Health Co. has a 1-year low of $52.71 and a 1-year high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. Analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.43 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.59%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is presently 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.