Vontobel Holding Ltd. Cuts Stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. reduced its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 14.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 99,324 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 16,590 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $4,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,989,066 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 1.8% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 1.5% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 13,135,308 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $825,948,000 after purchasing an additional 198,920 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 304,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 3,071,613 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CVS Health Trading Down 1.0 %

CVS stock opened at $65.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $82.68 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.61. CVS Health Co. has a one year low of $43.56 and a one year high of $80.75. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $51.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.80.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. As a group, analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CVS. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research upped their price target on CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Edward Jones upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CVS Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.28.

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.