CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Shares Bought by United Asset Strategies Inc.

United Asset Strategies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 29.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,506 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,181 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,162,626 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $8,180,295,000 after acquiring an additional 485,744 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,576,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,128,984,000 after acquiring an additional 3,311,928 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 27,487,238 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,919,159,000 after acquiring an additional 6,194,441 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 103,371.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,547,559 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,448,877,000 after acquiring an additional 15,532,533 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the 4th quarter worth about $1,425,416,000. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of CVS opened at $69.03 on Wednesday. CVS Health Co. has a one year low of $64.41 and a one year high of $83.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.77. The stock has a market cap of $87.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.69, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.11. CVS Health had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The company had revenue of $93.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 41.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CVS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $87.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total value of $2,267,947.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,059,916.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.