CVS Health Corporation $CVS Position Boosted by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) by 38.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,687,268 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,020,094 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $249,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in CVS Health during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Costello Asset Management INC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 281.3% in the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 572 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CVS Health in the first quarter worth $39,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its stake in CVS Health by 39.4% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 637 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management grew its stake in CVS Health by 33.7% in the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 682 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on CVS shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $71.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Baird R W upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $84.00 target price (up from $76.00) on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $77.56.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.1%

CVS opened at $73.98 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $66.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.83. CVS Health Corporation has a twelve month low of $43.56 and a twelve month high of $74.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $93.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.62.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $98.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. CVS Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. Research analysts forecast that CVS Health Corporation will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 22nd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 22nd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 74.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Guy P. Sansone bought 1,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $63.70 per share, with a total value of $100,009.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $764,845.90. The trade was a 15.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Anne A. Finucane sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.02, for a total transaction of $532,650.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,573,519.12. This represents a 25.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.