Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS - Free Report) by 197.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,877 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after purchasing an additional 20,480 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in CVS Health were worth $2,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 70,105,899 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $3,147,054,000 after acquiring an additional 7,075,209 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in CVS Health by 26.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,051,540 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $1,211,582,000 after acquiring an additional 689,867 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,666,401 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $1,196,989,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,126 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 6,475,271 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on CVS. Leerink Partners upgraded CVS Health from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $84.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of CVS Health in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays set a $79.00 target price on CVS Health and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CVS Health presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $74.75.

Insider Transactions at CVS Health

In other news, Director Guy P. Sansone bought 1,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $63.70 per share, with a total value of $100,009.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 12,007 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $764,845.90. This represents a 15.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.22% of the company's stock.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of CVS Health stock traded up $0.45 on Thursday, hitting $66.17. 3,670,989 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,995,689. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $65.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.05. CVS Health Co. has a 12-month low of $43.56 and a 12-month high of $72.51. 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 company has a market cap of $83.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.56.

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

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. CVS Health's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.48%.

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.