Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Reduces Stock Position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC reduced its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 13.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 775,795 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 118,525 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned 0.06% of CVS Health worth $34,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CVS. Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its stake in CVS Health by 255.7% during the fourth quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 626 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in CVS Health during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in CVS Health in the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Financial Perspectives Inc increased its stake in CVS Health by 137.5% during the fourth quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 805 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $556,941.90. This represents a 47.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CVS opened at $63.54 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a 1 year low of $43.56 and a 1 year high of $74.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $63.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.01. The firm has a market cap of $80.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.57.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results 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%. Research analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CVS has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Edward Jones raised CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Argus set a $77.00 price objective on CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CVS Health presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.39.

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.