MCF Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 29.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,981 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,092,040,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in CVS Health by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,691,698 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,660,298,000 after purchasing an additional 10,837,801 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in CVS Health by 132.9% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,936,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $764,023,000 after purchasing an additional 7,382,931 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in CVS Health by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,776,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,491,643,000 after buying an additional 3,232,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 306.6% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,046,216 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $240,529,000 after buying an additional 2,297,100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of CVS Health from $101.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $61.00 price objective for the company. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CVS Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.48.

CVS Health Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE CVS opened at $58.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.86. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $52.77 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The stock has a market cap of $72.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.00.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.10. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The business had revenue of $91.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $91.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 22nd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 22nd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.75%.

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.