Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA Sells 1,995 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA lessened its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 28.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,950 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 1,995 shares during the period. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whitebox Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $249,000. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new stake in CVS Health during the 4th quarter valued at $417,000. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can purchased a new stake in CVS Health during the 4th quarter valued at $121,742,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in CVS Health by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,290,953 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $192,617,000 after acquiring an additional 293,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seizert Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,527 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,566,000 after acquiring an additional 105,708 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CVS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Leerink Partners upgraded CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Argus set a $77.00 price objective on CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on CVS Health from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays set a $79.00 price target on shares of CVS Health and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CVS Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.75.

CVS Health Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of CVS Health stock opened at $63.61 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a 1 year low of $43.56 and a 1 year high of $72.51. The firm has a market cap of $80.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $65.21 and a 200 day moving average of $59.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.63. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $94.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 22nd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.48%.

CVS Health 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.