The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS - Free Report) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,138,359 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after buying an additional 42,121 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.09% of CVS Health worth $51,101,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 11.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,039,777 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $2,739,927,000 after buying an additional 12,819,148 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,051,540 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $1,211,582,000 after buying an additional 689,867 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in CVS Health by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,666,401 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $1,196,989,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $880,319,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475,271 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CVS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CVS Health from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of CVS Health from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on CVS Health from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $72.69.

Insider Transactions at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $556,941.90. This trade represents a 47.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $66.70 per share, with a total value of $2,001,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,625,045.20. This trade represents a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.22% of the company's stock.

CVS Health Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of CVS stock traded down $1.96 on Friday, hitting $67.49. The company had a trading volume of 14,303,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,508,896. The stock's 50-day moving average is $66.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $85.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.57. CVS Health Co. has a twelve month low of $43.56 and a twelve month high of $72.51.

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 the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $93.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. CVS Health's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. CVS Health's dividend payout ratio is currently 72.68%.

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.