William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. Purchases New Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 21,485 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,269,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. First Community Trust NA raised its holdings in CVS Health by 116.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 562 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Steph & Co. grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 192.0% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 438 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 11,840.0% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 597 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CVS Health Price Performance

CVS stock opened at $61.38 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $77.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $58.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.87. CVS Health Co. has a 1 year low of $52.77 and a 1 year high of $83.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.10. CVS Health had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 1.98%. The business had revenue of $91.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 6.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 46.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CVS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays dropped their price objective on CVS Health from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on CVS Health from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.10.

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.