Atria Investments Inc Cuts Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Atria Investments Inc lessened its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,902 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 4,308 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $2,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,554,475,000 after buying an additional 1,989,066 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,361,673 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,651,997,000 after buying an additional 461,569 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 1.5% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 13,135,308 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $825,948,000 after purchasing an additional 198,920 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in CVS Health by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,918,949 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $579,932,000 after purchasing an additional 710,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 34.8% in the third 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Trading Up 1.7 %

CVS Health stock opened at $66.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $83.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $56.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.81.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 1.24%. Equities research analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.68%.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $556,941.90. This represents a 47.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $66.70 per share, with a total value of $2,001,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 39,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,625,045.20. This trade represents a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CVS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Edward Jones upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Leerink Partners upgraded CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on CVS Health from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.83.

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.