Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 2,300 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,500 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $2,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,363 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $690,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its position in CVS Health by 816.4% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 36,885 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,656,000 after purchasing an additional 32,860 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in CVS Health by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,168 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 9,101 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 24,646 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on CVS. Mizuho dropped 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. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on CVS Health from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.71.

CVS Health Trading Up 1.5 %

CVS stock opened at $52.72 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $66.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.59. CVS Health Co. has a 1-year low of $43.56 and a 1-year high of $80.75. The business’s 50 day moving average is $51.39 and its 200-day moving average is $56.36.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 67.51%.

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.