Farther Finance Advisors LLC Sells 2,913 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC reduced its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,797 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,913 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in CVS Health by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,554,475,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989,066 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in CVS Health by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,361,673 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,651,997,000 after acquiring an additional 461,569 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in CVS Health by 49.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in CVS Health by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,918,949 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $579,932,000 after acquiring an additional 710,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $748,085,000 after acquiring an additional 3,071,613 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CVS Health Stock Down 0.2 %

CVS opened at $65.63 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.98. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $43.56 and a 52 week high of $80.75. The company has a market capitalization of $82.75 billion, a PE ratio of 17.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. Analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CVS shares. Edward Jones upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CVS Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 39,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $556,941.90. This represents a 47.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.