Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Takes Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,980 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $89,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVS. Davis Selected Advisers lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 2,998.1% during the 4th quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 11,385,950 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $511,115,000 after purchasing an additional 11,018,438 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,610,579 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $880,319,000 after acquiring an additional 6,475,271 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 34.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,897,034 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $748,085,000 after acquiring an additional 3,071,613 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of CVS Health in the fourth quarter worth about $116,033,000. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 7,567.7% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 2,402,901 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $107,866,000 after acquiring an additional 2,371,563 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CVS shares. Barclays boosted 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. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.83.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of CVS stock opened at $67.49 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $85.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. CVS Health Co. has a 12-month low of $43.56 and a 12-month high of $80.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.32 and a 200-day moving average of $57.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

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

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.68%.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total value of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $556,941.90. This trade represents a 47.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $66.70 per share, with a total value of $2,001,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 39,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,625,045.20. The trade was a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.