Empirical Finance LLC Buys 1,535 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,735 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,535 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $3,728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of CVS Health in the 1st quarter valued at about $82,065,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 131.5% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 5,281 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 6,511 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $519,000 after acquiring an additional 2,478 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 3,753 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cohen Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 117,283 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $9,354,000 after acquiring an additional 882 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, Director Edward J. Ludwig acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $53.88 per share, with a total value of $53,880.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 21,630 shares in the company, valued at $1,165,424.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CVS. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. UBS Group lowered shares of CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen lowered shares of CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CVS Health from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.05.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CVS traded up $0.79 on Friday, hitting $59.00. 8,133,992 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,800,414. CVS Health Co. has a 1-year low of $52.77 and a 1-year high of $83.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $58.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.52.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.38). CVS Health had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company had revenue of $88.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 7.02 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 22nd will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.51%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 46.75%.

CVS Health Company 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.