Cerity Partners LLC Sells 99,249 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Cerity Partners LLC reduced its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 518,731 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 99,249 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $24,028,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 689,867 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 49.3% in 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. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 4th quarter worth about $839,574,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,918,949 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $579,932,000 after purchasing an additional 710,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers boosted its position in CVS Health by 2,998.1% in the fourth quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 11,385,950 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $511,115,000 after buying an additional 11,018,438 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CVS. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Argus set a $77.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $556,941.90. This trade represents a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction dated 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 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. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Stock Up 5.9 %

Shares of CVS Health stock opened at $67.64 on Wednesday. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $43.56 and a 12 month high of $74.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.18. 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 has a market cap of $85.28 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.57.

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

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors 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 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is presently 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.