Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,087 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 581 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $1,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 9,013 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $712,000 after buying an additional 2,351 shares during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 43.5% during the fourth quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,575 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 781 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 18,267 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,442,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the period. Palouse Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,747 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,112,000 after buying an additional 1,896 shares during the period. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter valued at $262,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CVS. SVB Leerink began coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. StockNews.com lowered CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on CVS Health from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total value of $2,267,947.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,059,916.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CVS Health Trading Up 0.5 %

CVS Health stock opened at $69.75 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $64.41 and a 52 week high of $83.25. The company has a market capitalization 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.77.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $93.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.99 earnings per share. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

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

CVS Health Company 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.