Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $759,000 Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,078 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 865 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in CVS Health by 132.9% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,936,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $764,023,000 after acquiring an additional 7,382,931 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 12.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,917,923 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,024,334,000 after purchasing an additional 4,226,225 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in CVS Health by 8.0% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,776,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,491,643,000 after purchasing an additional 3,232,172 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in CVS Health by 5,864.2% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,730,343 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $108,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,331 shares during the period. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in CVS Health by 402.5% during the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 2,005,677 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $118,455,000 after buying an additional 1,606,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CVS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of CVS Health from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com lowered CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.00.

CVS Health Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of CVS stock opened at $55.11 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a 1-year low of $52.77 and a 1-year high of $83.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $69.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.41 and a 200-day moving average of $58.79.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.44 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.83%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.