Kendall Capital Management Lowers Stock Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Kendall Capital Management cut its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 52.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,680 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 5,163 shares during the quarter. Kendall Capital Management’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 3rd quarter valued at $777,000. SpiderRock Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC now owns 10,807 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $680,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 410,001 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,781,000 after acquiring an additional 36,132 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,524 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $410,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 83.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 10,169 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $639,000 after acquiring an additional 4,632 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CVS shares. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus set a $77.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CVS Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,625,045.20. This trade represents a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $556,941.90. This trade represents a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CVS opened at $66.34 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.75. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.73. The company has a market cap of $83.64 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.68%.

CVS Health 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.