Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $1.37 Million in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 21,755 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,369,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 13,135,308 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $825,948,000 after buying an additional 198,920 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 2.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,208,668 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $767,681,000 after purchasing an additional 304,386 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 1.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,049,945 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $443,301,000 after purchasing an additional 107,977 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,289,788 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $310,722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,843,402 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $178,793,000 after purchasing an additional 421,416 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CVS shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CVS Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.50.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CVS opened at $51.77 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.14 billion, a PE ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.54. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $51.73 and a 12 month high of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.14%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.51%.

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.