The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,017,106 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,966 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $60,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C bought a new stake in CVS Health in the 2nd quarter worth $57,584,000. Steph & Co. increased its holdings in CVS Health by 192.0% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 438 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its position in CVS Health by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,084,256 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $86,480,000 after purchasing an additional 16,840 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A purchased a new stake in CVS Health in the 4th quarter worth approximately $151,000. Finally, State of Tennessee Treasury Department increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 624,817 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $49,336,000 after buying an additional 58,836 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on CVS. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of CVS Health from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays cut their price objective on CVS Health from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.10.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of CVS opened at $61.38 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a twelve month low of $52.77 and a twelve month high of $83.25. The company has a market capitalization of $77.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $58.20 and a 200 day moving average of $61.96. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.10. CVS Health had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 1.98%. The firm had revenue of $91.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $91.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s payout ratio is presently 46.75%.

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.