Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Makes New Investment in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 209,888 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $9,422,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Essential Planning LLC. bought a new position in CVS Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,238,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in CVS Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,318 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 29,300 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,315,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,610,579 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $880,319,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475,271 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CVS shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Leerink Partners upgraded CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial increased their price target on CVS Health from $60.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on CVS Health from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Argus set a $77.00 target price on CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.83.

CVS Health Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of CVS stock opened at $65.63 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a 1 year low of $43.56 and a 1 year high of $80.75. The stock has a market cap of $82.75 billion, a PE ratio of 17.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $58.47 and its 200-day moving average is $57.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.81.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 1.24%. Equities analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.68%.

Insider Transactions at CVS Health

In related news, Director Michael F. Mahoney acquired 30,000 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $66.70 per share, with a total value of $2,001,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at $2,625,045.20. The trade was a 320.65 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total value of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $556,941.90. This trade represents a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.