Wedmont Private Capital Reduces Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Wedmont Private Capital lessened its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,403 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,577 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in CVS Health by 9.7% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 410,001 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,781,000 after purchasing an additional 36,132 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 46,938 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,951,000 after acquiring an additional 10,465 shares in the last quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. lifted its stake in CVS Health by 43.8% during the third quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 122,682 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,125,000 after purchasing an additional 37,395 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 4.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,434,476 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $90,200,000 after purchasing an additional 66,244 shares during the period. Finally, Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 134,523 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $8,459,000 after buying an additional 10,453 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on CVS. TD Cowen lifted their target price on CVS Health from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of CVS Health from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.71.

CVS Health Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE CVS opened at $52.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.24, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.59. CVS Health Co. has a one year low of $43.56 and a one year high of $80.75. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $51.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.44.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The company had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.10%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 67.51%.

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.