Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Sells 12,725 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC cut its position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,953 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 12,725 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $2,422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 255.7% in the fourth quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 626 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in CVS Health during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of CVS Health during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Financial Perspectives Inc raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 137.5% during the fourth quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 805 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total value of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 acquisition, the director now owns 39,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,625,045.20. The trade was a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CVS. Edward Jones raised CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Leerink Partners upgraded CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on CVS Health from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.39.

CVS Health Trading Up 0.2 %

CVS stock opened at $67.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $62.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.83. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.56 and a fifty-two week high of $75.27.

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

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.