Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Invests $495,000 in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,263 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $495,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 74.0% during the third quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 43,213 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,017,000 after buying an additional 18,385 shares during the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 26.5% in the third quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 991,601 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $69,261,000 after acquiring an additional 207,702 shares during the period. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 1.6% during the third quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC now owns 50,488 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,525,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in CVS Health by 2.3% during the third quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 10,405 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its stake in CVS Health by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 19,355 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CVS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays started coverage on CVS Health in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $78.00 price objective for the company. SVB Leerink began coverage on shares of CVS Health in a report on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of CVS Health from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $102.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $87.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.21.

CVS Health Stock Performance

CVS opened at $79.43 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.51. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $64.41 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.61 and a 200 day moving average of $73.42.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $93.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.58 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 2.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 8.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 41.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CVS Health news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total transaction of $2,267,947.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,765 shares in the company, valued at $3,059,916.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.