CVS Health Corporation $CVS Stock Holdings Lessened by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Key Points

• Salem Investment Counselors Inc. has decreased its stake in CVS Health Corporation by 22.5%, selling 14,135 shares and now holding a total of 48,751 shares worth approximately $3,363,000.
• CVS Health reported $1.81 earnings per share for its last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.46, with revenues reaching $98.92 billion, up 8.4% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.665, resulting in an annualized dividend of $2.66 and a yield of 3.5%.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS - Free Report) by 22.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,751 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 14,135 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings in CVS Health were worth $3,363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in CVS Health by 87.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,927,650 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $672,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,632,530 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,353,223 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the 1st quarter valued at about $204,421,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 310.8% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,523,824 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $238,739,000 after buying an additional 2,666,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,413,853 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $1,383,039,000 after buying an additional 2,375,764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, Director Anne A. Finucane sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.02, for a total transaction of $532,650.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 22,156 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,573,519.12. This represents a 25.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.22% of the company's stock.

CVS Health Price Performance

CVS traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $73.66. 4,172,008 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,592,743. The business's 50-day moving average price is $67.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.43 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.62. CVS Health Corporation has a 1-year low of $43.56 and a 1-year high of $75.55.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.17% and a return on equity of 10.51%. The business had revenue of $98.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. CVS Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CVS Health Corporation will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 22nd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 22nd. CVS Health's payout ratio is presently 74.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CVS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on CVS Health from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $78.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Baird R W upgraded shares of CVS Health from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird upgraded CVS Health from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of CVS Health from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.89.

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.