Norges Bank Buys New Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 18,702,928 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $839,574,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Davis Selected Advisers grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 2,998.1% during the fourth quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 11,385,950 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $511,115,000 after purchasing an additional 11,018,438 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,610,579 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $880,319,000 after acquiring an additional 6,475,271 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 34.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,071,613 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in CVS Health during the fourth quarter worth approximately $116,033,000. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 7,567.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CVS Health Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of CVS stock opened at $67.59 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.22 billion, a PE ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.60. CVS Health Co. has a 1-year low of $43.56 and a 1-year high of $80.75.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.68%.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $556,941.90. This trade represents a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CVS. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial upped their target price on CVS Health from $60.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on CVS Health from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CVS Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.39.

CVS Health Company 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.