CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Shares Sold by Lafayette Investments Inc.

Lafayette Investments Inc. reduced its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,050 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 450 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 74.0% during the third quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 43,213 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,017,000 after purchasing an additional 18,385 shares during the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its stake in CVS Health by 26.5% during the third quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 991,601 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $69,261,000 after purchasing an additional 207,702 shares during the last quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 1.6% during the third quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC now owns 50,488 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,525,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 2.3% during the third quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 10,405 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 2.6% during the third quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 19,355 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on CVS. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. SVB Leerink began coverage on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CVS Health presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total value of $2,267,947.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,059,916.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CVS traded up $1.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $69.77. 2,272,086 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,777,230. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company’s 50 day moving average is $75.42 and its 200 day moving average is $73.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.52. CVS Health Co. has a one year low of $64.41 and a one year high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.11. CVS Health had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The business had revenue of $93.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.99 EPS. CVS Health’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.18%.

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.