National Pension Service Raises Stock Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 17.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,843,402 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 421,416 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $178,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in CVS Health by 8.0% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,776,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,491,643,000 after acquiring an additional 3,232,172 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in CVS Health by 12.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,917,923 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,024,334,000 after acquiring an additional 4,226,225 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in CVS Health by 1.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,143,822 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,048,351,000 after acquiring an additional 184,297 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in CVS Health by 132.9% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,936,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $764,023,000 after acquiring an additional 7,382,931 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in CVS Health by 5.9% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,963,508 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $555,406,000 after purchasing an additional 389,166 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CVS Health Trading Down 2.1 %

CVS opened at $54.65 on Tuesday. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $52.77 and a 12 month high of $83.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $59.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.39.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 EPS 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CVS. Barclays lowered their price target on CVS Health from $82.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho decreased their target price on CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on CVS Health from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.11.

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.