First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Increases Stock Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,441 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 2,317 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $2,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CVS. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in CVS Health by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 2,859 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC raised its holdings in CVS Health by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 3,378 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC now owns 3,612 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 4,498 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,639 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Edward J. Ludwig bought 1,000 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $53.88 per share, for a total transaction of $53,880.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,165,424.40. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CVS. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $61.00 price objective for the company. SVB Leerink restated a “market perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (down from $87.00) on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. TD Cowen lowered shares of CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.05.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of CVS Health stock traded down $0.82 on Thursday, hitting $56.70. 5,371,350 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,197,653. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.81. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $52.77 and a 52 week high of $83.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.81.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.38). CVS Health had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business had revenue of $88.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.20 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 7.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Company 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.