Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,918,949 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 710,281 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.03% of CVS Health worth $579,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Widmann Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in CVS Health by 1.8% during the third quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 11,506 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 4.8% during 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. Rogco LP grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its holdings in CVS Health by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 2,575 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $163,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 26.8% during the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 1,220 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In other news, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on CVS shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on CVS Health from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Argus set a $77.00 price objective on CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CVS Health from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.83.

CVS Health Price Performance

CVS stock opened at $64.26 on Wednesday. CVS Health Co. has a 52-week low of $43.56 and a 52-week high of $80.75. 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 stock has a market cap of $81.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $55.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.58.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 1.24%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors 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 dividend yield of 4.14%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 72.68%.

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.