CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Shares Sold by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 85,196 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 5,650 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $3,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Davis Selected Advisers grew its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 2,998.1% in the fourth quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 11,385,950 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $511,115,000 after purchasing an additional 11,018,438 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,610,579 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $880,319,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475,271 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,897,034 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $748,085,000 after buying an additional 3,071,613 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $116,033,000. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP grew its position in CVS Health by 7,567.7% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 2,402,901 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $107,866,000 after acquiring an additional 2,371,563 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CVS. UBS Group reduced their target price on CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus set a $77.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Leerink Partners raised shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Edward Jones raised CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CVS Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.39.

Insider Transactions at CVS Health

In other news, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total value of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $556,941.90. This represents a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:CVS opened at $67.16 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $84.68 billion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $61.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.53. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $43.56 and a 52 week high of $80.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share 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 analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 72.68%.

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.