Valley National Advisers Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Valley National Advisers Inc. lessened its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 46.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,509 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,150 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,554,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,066 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in CVS Health by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,361,673 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,651,997,000 after purchasing an additional 461,569 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in CVS Health by 1.5% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 2.6% during 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 buying an additional 304,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 34.8% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,897,034 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $748,085,000 after acquiring an additional 3,071,613 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CVS Health Trading Down 0.5 %

CVS Health stock opened at $56.53 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. CVS Health Co. has a 12-month low of $43.56 and a 12-month high of $80.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.24 and a 200 day moving average of $56.16.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced 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. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CVS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Edward Jones upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.12.

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.