CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Shares Sold by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC reduced its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 84.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,023 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 177,659 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $1,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 27,305 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 184,634 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $8,288,000 after buying an additional 15,400 shares during the last quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 404,443 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $18,155,000 after acquiring an additional 22,926 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 9,630 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $432,000 after acquiring an additional 1,492 shares during the period. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. raised its position in CVS Health by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,943 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CVS. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Leerink Partners upgraded CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group cut their price target on CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CVS Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.28.

CVS Health Price Performance

CVS stock opened at $65.71 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $82.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.11 and a 200-day moving average of $56.04. CVS Health Co. has a 12-month low of $43.56 and a 12-month high of $80.75.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. As a group, equities analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 67.51%.

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.