Diligent Investors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in CVS Health Corporation $CVS

Key Points

• Diligent Investors LLC reduced its stake in CVS Health Corporation by 41.1% during the second quarter, owning 8,351 shares valued at approximately $576,000 after selling 5,823 shares.
• Other institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Dodge & Cox, have increased their stakes in CVS Health, with institutional ownership now at 80.66%.
• CVS Health recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.665 per share, representing a yield of 3.4%, to be paid to stockholders on November 3rd.

Diligent Investors LLC lowered its stake in shares of CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS - Free Report) by 41.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,351 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 5,823 shares during the period. Diligent Investors LLC's holdings in CVS Health were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 118,335,394 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $8,017,223,000 after acquiring an additional 969,027 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 73,459,122 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $4,976,856,000 after purchasing an additional 3,353,223 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,413,853 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $1,383,039,000 after purchasing an additional 2,375,764 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 14.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,309,289 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $1,037,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942,886 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in CVS Health by 5.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,647,873 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $924,643,000 after buying an additional 728,924 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Anne A. Finucane sold 7,500 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 22,156 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,573,519.12. The trade was a 25.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CVS shares. Bernstein Bank decreased their target price on CVS Health from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $78.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of CVS Health from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $71.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of CVS Health from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of CVS Health in a report on Monday, August 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CVS Health has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $78.25.

CVS Health Price Performance

CVS stock opened at $77.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $98.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.60. The firm's fifty day moving average is $70.71 and its 200 day moving average is $67.33. CVS Health Corporation has a 52 week low of $43.56 and a 52 week high of $79.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.80.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. The company's revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. CVS Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. Research analysts predict that CVS Health Corporation will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

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

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.

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