Lynch & Associates IN Lowers Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Lynch & Associates IN lessened its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 23.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,807 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 6,088 shares during the quarter. Lynch & Associates IN’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its stake in CVS Health by 255.7% in the fourth quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 626 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in CVS Health by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 173,643 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $7,795,000 after buying an additional 2,256 shares during the last quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC now owns 7,302 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the period. InvesTrust purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,823,000. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its position in CVS Health by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 34,257 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,538,000 after acquiring an additional 989 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Stock Up 4.3 %

CVS Health stock traded up $1.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $48.00. 16,782,035 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,384,324. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.68. The firm has a market cap of $60.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.59. CVS Health Co. has a 1 year low of $43.56 and a 1 year high of $80.75.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.54%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CVS. UBS Group lifted their price target on CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a 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 note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.71.

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.