J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,267 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $1,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 103,371.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,547,559 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,448,877,000 after buying an additional 15,532,533 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at $1,425,416,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 6,194,441 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,576,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,128,984,000 after acquiring an additional 3,311,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 97.8% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,483,154 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $379,052,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,102 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on CVS. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on CVS Health from $83.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Leerink Partnrs reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.44.

CVS Health Stock Performance

CVS Health stock opened at $69.75 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.29 and its 200-day moving average is $73.74. The company has a market cap of $87.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.63. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $64.41 and a 12 month high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $93.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.58 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 2.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.99 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 41.18%.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In related news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,059,916.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company 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.