Hennessy Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,800 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $3,827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC lifted its position in CVS Health by 0.4% during the second quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 46,637 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,754,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 43,806.1% during the second quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 14,489 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 14,456 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health in the 2nd quarter worth about $503,000. Inlet Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in CVS Health by 133.9% in the 2nd quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 70,171 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $4,144,000 after purchasing an additional 40,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC increased its stake in CVS Health by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 109,123 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $6,361,000 after purchasing an additional 7,878 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CVS. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target (down previously from $90.00) on shares of CVS Health in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $95.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on CVS Health from $101.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on CVS Health from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.24.

CVS Health Price Performance

NYSE CVS opened at $57.85 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.24. CVS Health Co. has a 12-month low of $52.77 and a 12-month high of $83.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $91.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.41 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 22nd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 46.75%.

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.