Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Cuts Stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its position in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,153 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 320 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $1,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atticus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 149.0% during the fourth quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 366 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 111.5% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 461 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 400.0% during the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Coston McIsaac & Partners increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 539 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CVS Health

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 stock was sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total value of $2,267,947.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,059,916.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CVS shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on CVS Health from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Barclays started coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Leerink Partnrs reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, SVB Leerink began coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.44.

CVS Health Trading Down 0.2 %

CVS Health stock opened at $67.18 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $64.41 and a 52 week high of $83.25. The company has a market capitalization of $84.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $74.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.64.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.11. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 2.33%. The firm had revenue of $93.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s payout ratio is presently 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.