Payden & Rygel Purchases Shares of 99,900 CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Payden & Rygel acquired a new stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 99,900 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $6,282,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CVS. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in CVS Health by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 13,135,308 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $825,948,000 after purchasing an additional 198,920 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 5.9% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,963,508 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $555,406,000 after buying an additional 389,166 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in CVS Health by 33.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,289,788 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $310,722,000 after buying an additional 1,327,855 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its holdings in CVS Health by 17.4% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,843,402 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $178,793,000 after buying an additional 421,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,436,343 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $143,890,000 after acquiring an additional 57,214 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Stock Performance

NYSE:CVS opened at $56.83 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $59.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.59. CVS Health Co. has a 1-year low of $52.71 and a 1-year high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.43 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.28.

CVS Health Profile

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.