South Dakota Investment Council Has $18.61 Million Stock Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 235,726 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,933 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $18,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atticus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 149.0% in the fourth quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 366 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 111.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 461 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 400.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners increased its holdings in CVS Health by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 539 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in shares of CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CVS shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of CVS Health from $83.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $87.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. SVB Leerink started coverage on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. 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 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut 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 twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.44.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In other news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total transaction of $2,267,947.35. Following the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of CVS stock traded down $1.13 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $68.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,441,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,757,553. 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 fifty-two week low of $64.41 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The company has a market capitalization of $86.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.76.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $93.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.58 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 2.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 41.18%.

CVS Health 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.