Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 4,410 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 169,617 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 4,410 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $7,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in CVS Health by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 70,105,899 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,147,054,000 after acquiring an additional 7,075,209 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in CVS Health by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,039,777 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,739,927,000 after acquiring an additional 12,819,148 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in CVS Health by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,051,540 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,211,582,000 after acquiring an additional 689,867 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in CVS Health by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,666,401 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,196,989,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in CVS Health by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,610,579 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $880,319,000 after acquiring an additional 6,475,271 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CVS Health Stock Performance

NYSE CVS opened at $64.91 on Tuesday. CVS Health Co. has a 1 year low of $43.56 and a 1 year high of $71.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $81.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.74, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $66.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.75.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total value of $498,487.55. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $556,941.90. The trade was a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares in the company, 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. 1.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CVS shares. Leerink Partners raised shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.83.

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.