Sector Gamma AS Takes Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Sector Gamma AS acquired a new stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 219,000 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $17,292,000. CVS Health makes up 4.2% of Sector Gamma AS’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CVS. FMR LLC lifted 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 worth $1,919,159,000 after purchasing an additional 6,194,441 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 8,697.2% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,322,129 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $104,395,000 after buying an additional 1,307,100 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in CVS Health by 49.9% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,095,978 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $146,341,000 after buying an additional 698,054 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in CVS Health by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,513,230 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $435,325,000 after buying an additional 616,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in CVS Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,379,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CVS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Leerink Partnrs reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of CVS Health in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on CVS Health from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.44.

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 that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total transaction of $2,267,947.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 39,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,059,916.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CVS Health Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of CVS stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $67.18. The company had a trading volume of 6,396,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,376,818. CVS Health Co. has a twelve month low of $64.41 and a twelve month high of $83.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $84.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.52.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.11. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 2.33%. The firm had revenue of $93.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.99 EPS. CVS Health’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.18%.

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.