State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Stock Holdings in CVS Health Corporation $CVS

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D has reduced its holdings in CVS Health Corporation by 8.6%, owning 423,143 shares valued at approximately $28.7 million.
• Multiple institutional investors increased their stakes in CVS Health, with Brandywine Global Investment Management boosting its position by 20.1% during the same period.
• Analysts have recently upgraded CVS Health's rating, with target prices varying from $74 to $82, indicating a prevailing sentiment of confidence in the stock's performance.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its position in shares of CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS - Free Report) by 8.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 423,143 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 39,567 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in CVS Health were worth $28,668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 20,705 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 33.7% in the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 682 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 707 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 17,114 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,930 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CVS shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded CVS Health from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $71.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group raised CVS Health from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $84.00 target price (up from $76.00) on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on CVS Health from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $76.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CVS Health news, Director Guy P. Sansone bought 1,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $63.70 per share, for a total transaction of $100,009.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 12,007 shares in the company, valued at $764,845.90. This trade represents a 15.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CVS Health Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE CVS traded up $0.0080 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.9780. The stock had a trading volume of 3,101,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,859,317. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $65.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $90.02 billion, a PE ratio of 19.84, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.58. CVS Health Corporation has a twelve month low of $43.56 and a twelve month high of $72.51.

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

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 22nd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. CVS Health's payout ratio is presently 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.