Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Reduces Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH cut its position in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS - Free Report) by 17.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 903,826 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 185,828 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned 0.07% of CVS Health worth $61,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CVS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $839,574,000. Capital World Investors increased 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 worth $2,739,927,000 after acquiring an additional 12,819,148 shares during the period. Davis Selected Advisers increased its stake in CVS Health by 2,998.1% during the 4th quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 11,385,950 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $511,115,000 after acquiring an additional 11,018,438 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in CVS Health by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 70,105,899 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $3,147,054,000 after acquiring an additional 7,075,209 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 6,475,271 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Guy P. Sansone purchased 1,570 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $63.70 per share, with a total value of $100,009.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 12,007 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $764,845.90. The trade was a 15.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on CVS. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on CVS Health from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Leerink Partners raised CVS Health from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on CVS Health from $51.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on CVS Health from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CVS Health presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $74.75.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CVS traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $66.34. The company had a trading volume of 6,562,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,007,899. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $65.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.05. CVS Health Co. has a 1 year low of $43.56 and a 1 year high of $72.51. The stock has a market cap of $83.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.56.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.63. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. The company had revenue of $94.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. CVS Health's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.