Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Trims Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd cut its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 157,349 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 11,958 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $7,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CVS. State Street Corp lifted its position in CVS Health by 3.6% during the third 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,651,997,000 after acquiring an additional 461,569 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 198,920 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in CVS Health by 2.6% in 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 period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 worth $748,085,000 after purchasing an additional 3,071,613 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CVS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped 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. Barclays dropped their price target on CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.12.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CVS opened at $53.95 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $50.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.02. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.75. The firm has a market cap of $67.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 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.