Compass Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Compass Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 677,656 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,254 shares during the period. CVS Health accounts for about 3.8% of Compass Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Compass Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of CVS Health worth $53,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,162,626 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $8,180,295,000 after purchasing an additional 485,744 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 29.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 27,487,238 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,919,159,000 after purchasing an additional 6,194,441 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 2.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,214,296 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $992,442,000 after acquiring an additional 305,564 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 2.2% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,136,920 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $987,041,000 after acquiring an additional 303,512 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 2.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,717,825 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $864,821,000 after acquiring an additional 324,391 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CVS. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Barclays assumed coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on CVS Health from $83.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.44.

CVS Health Stock Up 0.4 %

CVS Health stock traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $67.71. 13,469,878 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,639,692. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $74.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.65. The company has a market cap of $85.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.63. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $64.41 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.11. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 2.33%. The company had revenue of $93.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.99 EPS. CVS Health’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total value of $2,267,947.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,059,916.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.