Palouse Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 188 shares during the quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its stake in CVS Health by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 707 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC grew its stake in CVS Health by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 1,282 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. EagleClaw Capital Managment LLC grew its stake in CVS Health by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. EagleClaw Capital Managment LLC now owns 6,135 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CVS Health by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 4,457 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in CVS Health by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other CVS Health news, Director Guy P. Sansone acquired 1,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $63.70 per share, for a total transaction of $100,009.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 12,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $764,845.90. The trade was a 15.04% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CVS. Argus set a $77.00 price objective on CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on CVS Health from $51.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on CVS Health from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on CVS Health from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.75.

CVS Health Price Performance

NYSE:CVS opened at $67.42 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $43.56 and a 12 month high of $72.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $65.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $85.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.56.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.63. CVS Health had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 1.24%. The company had revenue of $94.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. CVS Health’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.