Merit Financial Group LLC Has $1.12 Million Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Merit Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 31.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,233 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 6,639 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $1,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CVS. Atticus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 149.0% in the 4th quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 366 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 111.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 461 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 400.0% in the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 42.6% in the 4th quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 539 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CVS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered shares of CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered shares of CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target (down from $90.00) on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $85.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $78.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.35.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE CVS opened at $55.90 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $70.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.82, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average of $72.77 and a 200-day moving average of $73.29. CVS Health Co. has a 1-year low of $53.70 and a 1-year high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $88.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.33 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.20 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 22nd were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CVS Health news, Director Edward J. Ludwig bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $53.88 per share, for a total transaction of $53,880.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,165,424.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other CVS Health news, Director Edward J. Ludwig bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $53.88 per share, for a total transaction of $53,880.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,165,424.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 39,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,059,916.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.