Coho Partners Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Coho Partners Ltd. cut its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,746 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 1,739 shares during the period. Coho Partners Ltd.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $2,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in CVS Health by 132.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 7,382,931 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in CVS Health by 12.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,917,923 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,024,334,000 after purchasing an additional 4,226,225 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in CVS Health by 8.0% during 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 during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in CVS Health by 402.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the first quarter valued at $110,816,000. 80.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CVS. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on CVS Health from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CVS Health presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.89.

CVS Health Price Performance

CVS stock opened at $56.78 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.17. The stock has a market cap of $71.28 billion, a PE ratio of 9.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.54. CVS Health Co. has a one year low of $52.77 and a one year high of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $91.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 6.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. 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.