Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 40.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 440 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $28,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 8.0% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,776,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,491,643,000 after purchasing an additional 3,232,172 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in CVS Health by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,917,923 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,024,334,000 after buying an additional 4,226,225 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 1.4% during the first 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. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 132.9% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,936,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $764,023,000 after acquiring an additional 7,382,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 5.9% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,963,508 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $555,406,000 after purchasing an additional 389,166 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on CVS. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on CVS Health from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CVS Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.00.

CVS Health Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CVS opened at $55.54 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $52.77 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $69.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.19.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The business had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.79%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.51%.

About CVS Health

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.