Stevens Capital Management LP Takes $1.43 Million Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 31,765 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,426,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 255.7% in the fourth quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 626 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in CVS Health during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in CVS Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at CVS Health

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on CVS. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Edward Jones upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CVS Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.39.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of CVS Health stock opened at $67.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $84.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s fifty day moving average is $60.60 and its 200 day moving average is $57.35. CVS Health Co. has a twelve month low of $43.56 and a twelve month high of $80.75.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. Sell-side analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.68%.

CVS Health 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.