Highland Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Highland Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,939 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 20,529 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $6,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in CVS Health by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,696,285 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $9,293,299,000 after purchasing an additional 533,659 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 8.0% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,776,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,491,643,000 after buying an additional 3,232,172 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 12.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,917,923 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,024,334,000 after buying an additional 4,226,225 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,092,040,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in CVS Health by 1.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,143,822 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,048,351,000 after acquiring an additional 184,297 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CVS. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of CVS Health in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on CVS Health from $101.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on CVS Health from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs cut shares of CVS Health from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.24.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CVS traded up $1.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.75. The company had a trading volume of 9,614,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,289,169. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $52.77 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $58.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.52.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.10. CVS Health had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.53%. The company had revenue of $91.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $91.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. CVS Health’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 22nd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.53%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 46.75%.

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.