Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Has $335,000 Stock Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,460 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 196 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ariel Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 669,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $39,516,000 after acquiring an additional 62,475 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 33.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,289,788 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $310,722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,855 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 1,108,877 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $61,106,000 after buying an additional 10,096 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in CVS Health by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 104,590 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $6,177,000 after buying an additional 11,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC bought a new position in CVS Health in the 2nd quarter worth $502,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:CVS opened at $53.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.80. CVS Health Co. has a 52-week low of $43.56 and a 52-week high of $80.75. The company has a market cap of $67.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $51.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.24.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 5.22 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.94%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is 67.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CVS. Barclays lowered their price target on CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Mizuho reduced their price objective on CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.71.

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.