Yousif Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 228,373 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 5,774 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $18,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in CVS Health by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,162,626 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $8,180,295,000 after purchasing an additional 485,744 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in CVS Health by 29.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 27,487,238 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,919,159,000 after purchasing an additional 6,194,441 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in CVS Health by 2.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,214,296 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $992,442,000 after purchasing an additional 305,564 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in CVS Health by 2.2% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,136,920 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $987,041,000 after purchasing an additional 303,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in CVS Health by 2.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,717,825 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $864,821,000 after purchasing an additional 324,391 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $83.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.44.

CVS Health Stock Down 1.6 %

CVS Health stock traded down $1.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $68.50. 8,441,734 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,757,553. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.86. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $64.41 and a 12 month high of $83.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.76. The company has a market cap of $86.34 billion, a PE ratio of 10.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.52.

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

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 41.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total transaction of $2,267,947.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,059,916.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.