Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC Purchases 1,305 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC boosted its position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,527 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 1,305 shares during the quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $742,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CVS. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 3.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,554,475,000 after buying an additional 1,989,066 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,361,673 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,651,997,000 after acquiring an additional 461,569 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 1.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,208,668 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $767,681,000 after purchasing an additional 304,386 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,897,034 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $748,085,000 after purchasing an additional 3,071,613 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE CVS opened at $65.85 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a twelve month low of $43.56 and a twelve month high of $80.75. The business’s fifty day moving average is $54.33 and its 200 day moving average is $56.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $83.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.61.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 1.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Edward Jones upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays increased their price target on CVS Health from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CVS Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $66.70 per share, with a total value of $2,001,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 39,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.