Cutler Investment Counsel LLC Reduces Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Cutler Investment Counsel LLC decreased its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 148,150 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,724 shares during the quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $9,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors increased 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 buying an additional 3,232,172 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in CVS Health by 12.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in CVS Health by 1.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,143,822 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,048,351,000 after buying an additional 184,297 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $764,023,000 after buying an additional 7,382,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,963,508 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $555,406,000 after acquiring an additional 389,166 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of CVS stock traded down $1.90 on Friday, reaching $53.19. 16,695,415 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,341,820. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.72. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $52.71 and a 52 week 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 capitalization of $66.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.55.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is 67.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on CVS Health from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.44.

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.