Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Boosts Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 4.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 520,107 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,679 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $32,704,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 132.9% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,936,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $764,023,000 after buying an additional 7,382,931 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,897,034 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $748,085,000 after buying an additional 3,071,613 shares in the last quarter. TOMS Capital Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in CVS Health during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $121,987,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 5,864.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,730,343 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $108,804,000 after buying an additional 1,701,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 402.5% during the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 2,005,677 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $118,455,000 after buying an additional 1,606,500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on CVS. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.50.

CVS Health Stock Performance

NYSE:CVS opened at $56.88 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $71.58 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.54. CVS Health Co. has a 1-year low of $52.71 and a 1-year high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. CVS Health’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.68%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 67.51%.

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.