Calamos Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Calamos Advisors LLC decreased its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 237,554 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 4,732 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $18,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P grew its holdings in CVS Health by 92.9% during the 1st quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 377,875 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $38,245,000 after buying an additional 181,966 shares in the last quarter. United Bank grew its stake in CVS Health by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 18,658 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,888,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in CVS Health by 4,063.8% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 12,075 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,222,000 after buying an additional 11,785 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in CVS Health by 116.9% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,572 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 1,386 shares during the period. Finally, Ergoteles LLC acquired a new stake in CVS Health during the 1st quarter worth about $1,551,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CVS Health news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total transaction of $2,267,947.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 39,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,059,916.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on CVS shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays started coverage on CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 price target for the company. HSBC initiated coverage on CVS Health in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on CVS Health in a report on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on CVS Health from $83.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.44.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CVS traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $69.17. The company had a trading volume of 896,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,761,287. CVS Health Co. has a twelve month low of $64.41 and a twelve month high of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $87.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.70.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.11. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 2.33%. The firm had revenue of $93.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.18%.

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.