Golden State Equity Partners Invests $804,000 in CVS Health Corporation $CVS

Golden State Equity Partners bought a new stake in CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,135 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $804,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,709,530 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $9,579,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,424 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 2.1% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 68,382,158 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $5,155,380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,575 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 58,938,286 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $4,443,357,000 after purchasing an additional 149,701 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 1.1% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,692,203 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,012,347,000 after purchasing an additional 302,499 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 3.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,293,058 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,831,454,000 after purchasing an additional 760,579 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting CVS Health

Here are the key news stories impacting CVS Health this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Aetna (a CVS Health company) reported measurable progress simplifying prior authorization, which should reduce administrative costs and speed care delivery—potentially improving medical cost trends and margins for the health-insurance segment. Aetna Announces Progress on Industry Leading Efforts to Simplify Prior Authorization
• Positive Sentiment: Major U.S. insurers (including Aetna and UnitedHealthcare) are coordinating to standardize electronic prior authorization — a structural change that could cut administrative friction across payors and providers, benefiting CVS’s insurance and PBM businesses over time. U.S. Health Insurers Step Up Prior Authorization Reforms
• Neutral Sentiment: CVS is pursuing packaging and sustainability changes (e.g., swapping foam and other supplier moves) that lower costs and environmental footprint, but these are incremental operational items unlikely to move near-term earnings materially. Packaging innovations: CVS Health swaps foam, PPG coats pet food cans
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent market-coverage pieces note modest share weakness in the last session; this reflects a mix of sector moves and headline sensitivity rather than fresh company-specific fundamentals. CVS Health (CVS) Stock Falls Amid Market Uptick: What Investors Need to Know
• Negative Sentiment: Tennessee passed a bill restricting pharmacies from owning PBMs; CVS warns the law could force many store closures and plans to sue—this represents direct state-level regulatory risk to retail pharmacy revenue and PBM economics. Legislation to ban pharmacies from owning PBMs heads to Gov. Lee’s desk, CVS Health may close Tenn. locations
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple outlets report CVS is preparing legal fights and warning of large-scale closures if similar PBM restrictions spread—heightening investor concern about regulatory contagion and potential earnings downside. CVS fights law that could force over 100 stores to close
• Negative Sentiment: Analysis of the Mass General Brigham–CVS primary care arrangement flags potential hidden access costs (~$40M) that could pressure the economics of CVS’s expanding primary care footprint. Mass General Brigham, CVS Primary Care Deal Could Have a $40M Hidden Cost of Access

Analyst Ratings Changes

CVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America decreased their target price on CVS Health from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on CVS Health from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $91.00 to $94.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on CVS Health from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.05.

CVS Health Stock Down 0.0%

CVS opened at $77.92 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.51. CVS Health Corporation has a one year low of $58.35 and a one year high of $85.15. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.84.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $105.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $103.67 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 0.44%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. CVS Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.940-6.140 EPS. Analysts anticipate that CVS Health Corporation will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 23rd will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 23rd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 192.75%.

About CVS Health

CVS Health Corporation is a diversified healthcare company that operates a large network of retail pharmacies, pharmacy benefit management services and health care solutions. Headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, the company traces its roots to the early 1960s and has grown into an integrated provider of prescription drugs, over‑the‑counter products, clinical services and health insurance offerings. Its operating model combines retail pharmacy locations and in‑store clinics with broader pharmacy and health plan capabilities.

Key business activities include CVS Pharmacy retail operations, MinuteClinic walk‑in medical clinics and HealthHUB locations that offer expanded clinical services.