Payden & Rygel Purchases New Shares in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Payden & Rygel acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 99,900 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $6,282,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 55.5% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 73,343 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $5,849,000 after buying an additional 26,173 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the first quarter worth $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 127.5% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,397 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its stake in CVS Health by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 9,414 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $750,000 after buying an additional 1,688 shares during the period. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,996 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,153,000 after buying an additional 5,229 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of CVS stock opened at $56.83 on Thursday. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $52.71 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.61.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. CVS Health’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on CVS shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $85.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.28.

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.