Ameriprise Financial Inc. Has $328.55 Million Stock Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS - Free Report) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,321,493 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after acquiring an additional 639,325 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.58% of CVS Health worth $328,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $839,574,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in CVS Health by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,039,777 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $2,739,927,000 after acquiring an additional 12,819,148 shares in the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers raised its holdings in CVS Health by 2,998.1% in the 4th quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 11,385,950 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $511,115,000 after acquiring an additional 11,018,438 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in CVS Health by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 70,105,899 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $3,147,054,000 after purchasing an additional 7,075,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,610,579 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $880,319,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475,271 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $51.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of CVS Health from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CVS Health from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays lifted their target price on CVS Health from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $84.00 price objective (up from $76.00) on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CVS Health has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $74.81.

Insider Transactions at CVS Health

In related news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,394 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $556,941.90. The trade was a 47.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 39,356 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CVS Health Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:CVS traded down $0.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $66.98. 6,356,260 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,403,576. CVS Health Co. has a twelve month low of $43.56 and a twelve month high of $72.51. The firm has a market cap of $84.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $66.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.97.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.63. The firm had revenue of $94.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.07 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. The company's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. CVS Health's payout ratio is presently 63.48%.

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.