Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Lowers Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lowered its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,825 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 1,731 shares during the quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $576,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CVS. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in CVS Health by 124.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 61,744 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,882,000 after acquiring an additional 34,198 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 61.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 14,853 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $934,000 after acquiring an additional 5,679 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its stake in CVS Health by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 250,891 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $15,776,000 after acquiring an additional 47,737 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in CVS Health during the 3rd quarter valued at about $101,000. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 29,247 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,839,000 after purchasing an additional 8,121 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of CVS opened at $65.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.59. CVS Health Co. has a 1 year low of $43.56 and a 1 year high of $80.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.01. The firm has a market cap of $82.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.61.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. On average, equities analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.05%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CVS. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Edward Jones upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.28.

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.