CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,726,578 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,217,784 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.85% of CVS Health worth $481,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in CVS Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 255.7% in the 4th quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 626 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Financial Perspectives Inc raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 137.5% in the 4th quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 805 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CVS shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Argus set a $77.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Leerink Partners raised shares of 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. Four research 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $556,941.90. This 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 at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $66.70 per share, with a total value of $2,001,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 39,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CVS Health Price Performance

CVS stock opened at $67.79 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $85.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $62.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.76. CVS Health Co. has a 52-week low of $43.56 and a 52-week high of $79.98.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. Analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 72.68%.

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.