Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Reduces Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 417,184 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 17,229 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $32,941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Atticus Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 149.0% during the 4th quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 366 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in CVS Health by 111.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 461 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in CVS Health by 400.0% in the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners raised its holdings in CVS Health by 42.6% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. 80.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays began coverage on shares of CVS Health in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $83.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective 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. Finally, SVB Leerink began coverage on shares of CVS Health in a report on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total value of $2,267,947.35. Following the transaction, 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. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CVS Health Stock Down 0.2 %

CVS traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $69.63. 5,699,551 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,787,651. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.77. The company has a market cap of $87.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.78, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.52. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $64.41 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $93.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.58 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The business’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.99 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.18%.

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.