Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 128,231 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 644,326 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 128,231 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $28,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in CVS Health by 9.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 410,001 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,781,000 after acquiring an additional 36,132 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in CVS Health by 28.7% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 46,938 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,951,000 after acquiring an additional 10,465 shares during the last quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. increased its position in CVS Health by 43.8% during the third quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 122,682 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $7,125,000 after acquiring an additional 37,395 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in CVS Health by 4.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,434,476 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $90,200,000 after acquiring an additional 66,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in CVS Health by 8.4% during the third quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 134,523 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $8,459,000 after acquiring an additional 10,453 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on CVS shares. Wolfe Research upped their price target on CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on CVS Health from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group reduced their price target on CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays upped their price target on CVS Health from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.28.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of CVS Health stock opened at $65.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $50.90 and a 200 day moving average of $56.01. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $43.56 and a 12 month high of $80.75. The firm has a market cap of $82.68 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. On average, research analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 67.51%.

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.