Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 11,955 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS - Free Report) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 165,314 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after purchasing an additional 11,955 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in CVS Health were worth $7,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in CVS Health by 3.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $3,554,475,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989,066 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,361,673 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $1,651,997,000 after purchasing an additional 461,569 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 13,135,308 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $825,948,000 after purchasing an additional 198,920 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,918,949 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $579,932,000 after purchasing an additional 710,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in CVS Health by 34.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,897,034 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $748,085,000 after buying an additional 3,071,613 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CVS. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of CVS Health from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on CVS Health from $60.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded CVS Health from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group cut their price target on CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $69.83.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $556,941.90. This represents a 47.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney acquired 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at $2,625,045.20. This represents 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 company insiders.

CVS Health Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE CVS opened at $64.98 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $43.56 and a 12 month high of $80.75. The company has a market capitalization of $81.92 billion, a PE ratio of 17.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.83.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. Research analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. 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.

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