Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Sells 609,423 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. cut its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 28.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,541,082 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 609,423 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned about 0.12% of CVS Health worth $91,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CVS Health by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,696,285 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $9,293,299,000 after buying an additional 533,659 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 8.0% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,776,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,491,643,000 after purchasing an additional 3,232,172 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 12.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,917,923 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,024,334,000 after purchasing an additional 4,226,225 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 1.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,143,822 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,048,351,000 after purchasing an additional 184,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 132.9% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,936,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $764,023,000 after purchasing an additional 7,382,931 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CVS opened at $57.51 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $58.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.52. The firm has a market cap of $72.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.53. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $52.77 and a 52 week high of $83.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $91.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.41 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 1.98%. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.63%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CVS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on CVS Health from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on CVS Health from $101.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on CVS Health from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.10.

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.