Sterling Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Sterling Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,363 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Sterling Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in CVS Health by 7.2% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,397 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,268 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,681 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its position in CVS Health by 0.7% in the third quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 27,625 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,737,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Widmann Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in CVS Health by 1.8% during the third quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 11,506 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CVS. Mizuho dropped their target price on CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Truist Financial lowered their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.71.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of CVS Health stock opened at $52.01 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $43.56 and a 12 month high of $80.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $51.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.39. The firm has a market cap of $65.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.11%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.