Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Buys 1,100 Shares of CVS Health Corporation $CVS

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 109,412 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $7,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 503.8% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,896,341 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $128,477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,257 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. lifted its position in CVS Health by 1.6% in the second quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 409,735 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $28,264,000 after purchasing an additional 6,615 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in CVS Health by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 648,266 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $43,920,000 after buying an additional 129,535 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,981,262 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $608,481,000 after buying an additional 183,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $231,808,000 after acquiring an additional 572,533 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on CVS shares. Zacks Research cut shares of CVS Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. UBS Group upgraded CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Mizuho upped their price target on CVS Health from $76.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CVS Health from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $71.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CVS Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.80.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In related news, Director Anne A. Finucane sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.02, for a total value of $532,650.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 22,156 shares in the company, valued at $1,573,519.12. This trade represents a 25.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE CVS opened at $77.89 on Monday. CVS Health Corporation has a 12-month low of $43.56 and a 12-month high of $79.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $98.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.60.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $98.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.87 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.17% and a return on equity of 10.51%. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. CVS Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that CVS Health Corporation will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 23rd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.30%.

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.