Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Reduces Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lessened its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 207,988 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 52,145 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $12,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,696,285 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $9,293,299,000 after buying an additional 533,659 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,776,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,491,643,000 after acquiring an additional 3,232,172 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,917,923 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,024,334,000 after acquiring an additional 4,226,225 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CVS Health in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,092,040,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,143,822 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,048,351,000 after acquiring an additional 184,297 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a report on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of CVS Health from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of CVS Health from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.48.

CVS Health Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE CVS opened at $56.47 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $58.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.54. The company has a market capitalization of $71.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.54. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $52.77 and a 12 month high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.10. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The company had revenue of $91.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $91.41 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 22nd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 22nd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 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.