ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Decreases Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 60.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,675 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 74,556 shares during the quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $3,843,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Atticus Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in CVS Health by 149.0% in the fourth quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 366 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in CVS Health by 111.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 461 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 400.0% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 539 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of CVS Health from $78.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. SVB Leerink reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price (down previously from $87.00) on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded CVS Health from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $87.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group downgraded CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $85.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on CVS Health from $95.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CVS Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.35.

CVS Health Price Performance

NYSE CVS traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $55.90. The stock had a trading volume of 23,946,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,498,538. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.26. The company has a market cap of $70.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.56. CVS Health Co. has a 52-week low of $53.70 and a 52-week high of $83.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $88.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.33 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.20 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 7.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 22nd were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 46.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CVS Health

In other news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total value of $2,267,947.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares in the company, valued at $3,059,916.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total transaction of $2,267,947.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,059,916.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Edward J. Ludwig bought 1,000 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $53.88 per share, for a total transaction of $53,880.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,165,424.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.