CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Grows Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS - Free Report) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,115,154 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after purchasing an additional 69,641 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.17% of CVS Health worth $94,890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CVS. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter valued at $839,574,000. Davis Selected Advisers grew its position in CVS Health by 2,998.1% during the 4th quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 11,385,950 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $511,115,000 after purchasing an additional 11,018,438 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in CVS Health by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 70,105,899 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $3,147,054,000 after purchasing an additional 7,075,209 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in CVS Health by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,610,579 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $880,319,000 after buying an additional 6,475,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 18,038,089 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $809,730,000 after buying an additional 4,173,243 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CVS shares. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com raised CVS Health from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Leerink Partners raised CVS Health from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of CVS Health from $51.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Argus set a $77.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $71.83.

CVS Health Price Performance

NYSE:CVS traded down $0.04 on Wednesday, reaching $65.41. 3,303,098 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,799,329. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.77. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $43.56 and a 12 month high of $71.45. The firm has a market cap of $82.47 billion, a PE ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.57. 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 (NYSE:CVS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. CVS Health's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.68%.

Insider Activity

In other CVS Health news, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $66.70 per share, with a total value of $2,001,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at $2,625,045.20. This trade represents a 320.65 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $556,941.90. This represents a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.22% of the company's stock.

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.