Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 24.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 644,326 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 128,231 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.05% of CVS Health worth $28,924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 34.8% during the 3rd 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. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 7,567.7% during the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 2,402,901 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $107,866,000 after purchasing an additional 2,371,563 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,554,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,066 shares during the last quarter. TOMS Capital Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of CVS Health during the 3rd quarter valued at about $121,987,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 5,864.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,730,343 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $108,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,331 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CVS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Leerink Partnrs upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Edward Jones upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Leerink Partners upgraded CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho reduced their price target on CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.28.

CVS Health Trading Down 1.0 %

CVS opened at $65.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $82.68 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 0.60 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. The business has a 50 day moving average of $50.90 and a 200-day moving average of $56.01. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $43.56 and a 52 week high of $80.75.

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

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 67.51%.

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.