New York State Common Retirement Fund Purchases 148,040 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,146,907 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 148,040 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $96,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its stake in CVS Health by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 27,625 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in CVS Health by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 11,506 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in CVS Health by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 4,457 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rogco LP raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Rogco LP now owns 6,752 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CVS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price 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 assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.00.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CVS opened at $66.35 on Thursday. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $43.56 and a 12 month high of $80.75. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $83.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.61.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its 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 net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. As a group, research analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% 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.