Pacer Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 10.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,735,717 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 351,945 shares during the period. CVS Health makes up about 1.0% of Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.29% of CVS Health worth $258,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CVS. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 375,771 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $35,018,000 after purchasing an additional 6,741 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 14.4% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,201,085 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $89,253,000 after purchasing an additional 151,185 shares during the last quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health during the 1st quarter worth approximately $202,000. Personal Capital Advisors Corp lifted its stake in CVS Health by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Personal Capital Advisors Corp now owns 647,077 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $60,301,000 after buying an additional 9,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in CVS Health by 149.9% during the 1st quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 111,303 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $8,271,000 after buying an additional 66,770 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CVS shares. Mizuho reduced their price objective on CVS Health from $120.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 11th. Barclays dropped their target price on CVS Health from $89.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded CVS Health from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CVS Health from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $81.00 to $83.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Friday, August 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.28.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.1 %

CVS stock traded up $0.80 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $71.50. 2,925,842 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,114,608. CVS Health Co. has a 12-month low of $64.62 and a 12-month high of $104.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $70.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.77.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The pharmacy operator reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $88.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.41 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 0.86% and a return on equity of 15.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 8.61 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 21st were paid a dividend of $0.605 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 20th. This represents a $2.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 106.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 25,759 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.92, for a total value of $1,929,864.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,698 shares in the company, valued at $351,974.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CVS Health Profile

CVS Health Corporation provides health services in the United States. It operates through Health Care Benefits, Pharmacy Services, and Retail/LTC segments. The Health Care Benefits segment offers traditional, voluntary, and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services. It serves employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates.