Jennison Associates LLC Grows Position in CVS Health Corporation $CVS

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) by 111.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,014,139 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 2,117,798 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $276,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CVS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in CVS Health by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 118,335,394 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $8,017,223,000 after purchasing an additional 969,027 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in CVS Health by 4.8% during the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 73,459,122 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $4,976,856,000 after purchasing an additional 3,353,223 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in CVS Health by 13.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,413,853 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,383,039,000 after purchasing an additional 2,375,764 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in CVS Health by 14.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,309,289 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,037,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in CVS Health by 5.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,647,873 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $924,643,000 after purchasing an additional 728,924 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of CVS opened at $82.30 on Wednesday. CVS Health Corporation has a twelve month low of $43.56 and a twelve month high of $83.74. The company has a market cap of $104.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.84.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $98.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.87 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.17% and a return on equity of 10.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. CVS Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that CVS Health Corporation will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 23rd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.30%.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In other news, Director Anne A. Finucane sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.02, for a total value of $532,650.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,156 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,573,519.12. This represents a 25.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CVS shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $79.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Leerink Partners increased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $91.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CVS Health presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.38.

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.