Delta Financial Group Inc. Sells 179 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Delta Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,016 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 179 shares during the quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 103,371.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,547,559 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,448,877,000 after buying an additional 15,532,533 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,425,416,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 29.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 27,487,238 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,919,159,000 after buying an additional 6,194,441 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in 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. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 97.8% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,483,154 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $379,052,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,102 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on CVS shares. Leerink Partnrs restated an “outperform” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Barclays started coverage on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.21.

CVS Health Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE CVS traded up $0.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $79.76. 8,981,310 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,174,262. The firm has a market cap of $100.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.51. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $64.41 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $75.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.51.

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 firm had revenue of $93.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 8.33 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.18%.

Insider Activity

In other CVS Health news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $3,059,916.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.