Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Invests $262,000 in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,317 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CVS. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 price target for the company. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CVS Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CVS Health news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the business’s 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.5 %

CVS traded up $1.02 on Friday, reaching $69.75. 7,809,721 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,823,763. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $75.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.70. CVS Health Co. has a 52-week low of $64.41 and a 52-week high of $83.25. The company has a market cap of $87.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80, a PEG ratio of 0.92 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 posted 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. The company had revenue of $93.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.58 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is 41.18%.

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.