Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Increases Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 17.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,474 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter valued at about $839,574,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in CVS Health by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,039,777 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,739,927,000 after acquiring an additional 12,819,148 shares during the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers boosted its stake in CVS Health by 2,998.1% in the fourth quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 11,385,950 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $511,115,000 after acquiring an additional 11,018,438 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in CVS Health by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 70,105,899 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,147,054,000 after purchasing an additional 7,075,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 49.3% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,610,579 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $880,319,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CVS. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $84.00 price objective (up from $76.00) on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Leerink Partners upgraded CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.75.

Insider Transactions at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, Director Guy P. Sansone purchased 1,570 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $63.70 per share, with a total value of $100,009.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 12,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $764,845.90. This trade represents a 15.04% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.22% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of CVS opened at $64.21 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $65.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $81.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.54, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.56. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $43.56 and a 52 week high of $72.51.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.63. The business had revenue of $94.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.07 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.48%.

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.