Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Sells 1,385 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lowered its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 118,581 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 1,385 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $7,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Steph & Co. grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 192.0% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 438 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its position in CVS Health by 1.6% in the first quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,084,256 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $86,480,000 after purchasing an additional 16,840 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter valued at about $151,000. State of Tennessee Treasury Department grew its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 624,817 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $49,336,000 after purchasing an additional 58,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BOCHK Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,116,000. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CVS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $101.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $61.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.10.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of CVS Health stock opened at $57.51 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.60. CVS Health Co. has a one year low of $52.77 and a one year high of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.53.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $91.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s payout ratio is presently 46.75%.

About CVS Health

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.