Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Acquires New Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 115,032 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $7,233,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in CVS Health by 9.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 410,001 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,781,000 after purchasing an additional 36,132 shares during the last quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 43.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 122,682 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,125,000 after buying an additional 37,395 shares during the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 134,523 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $8,459,000 after buying an additional 10,453 shares in the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new stake in CVS Health in the 2nd quarter valued at about $57,584,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in CVS Health by 5.7% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 448,323 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $28,191,000 after acquiring an additional 24,285 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CVS Health Price Performance

CVS stock opened at $56.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.79. The company has a market cap of $71.58 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. CVS Health Co. has a 12-month low of $52.71 and a 12-month high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.68%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Mizuho cut their price target on CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $60.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.50.

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.