Federated Hermes Inc. Cuts Stock Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,102,314 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 98,664 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $87,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in CVS Health by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,576,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,128,984,000 after acquiring an additional 3,311,928 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in CVS Health by 29.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 27,487,238 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,919,159,000 after acquiring an additional 6,194,441 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in CVS Health by 103,371.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,547,559 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,448,877,000 after acquiring an additional 15,532,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in CVS Health in the fourth quarter worth $1,425,416,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Leerink Partnrs reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.44.

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 dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,059,916.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.2 %

CVS opened at $69.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $87.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.74, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.52. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $64.41 and a 52 week high of $83.25. The business’s fifty 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 data on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 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 business had revenue of $93.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s payout ratio 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.