CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Shares Acquired by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 33.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 154,600 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,060 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in CVS Health were worth $6,940,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,051,540 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,211,582,000 after purchasing an additional 689,867 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in CVS Health by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,610,579 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $880,319,000 after buying an additional 6,475,271 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CVS Health during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $839,574,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,918,949 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $579,932,000 after acquiring an additional 710,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers increased its stake 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 worth $511,115,000 after acquiring an additional 11,018,438 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CVS. Leerink Partners raised shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Edward Jones upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on CVS Health from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CVS Health presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $66.70 per share, with a total value of $2,001,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $556,941.90. This trade represents a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CVS Health Stock Down 5.9 %

NYSE CVS opened at $63.54 on Monday. CVS Health Co. has a one year low of $43.56 and a one year high of $74.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.81. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $63.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.01. The company has a market cap of $80.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.57.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. Research analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be given 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 4.19%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 72.68%.

CVS Health Company 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.