Community Trust & Investment Co. Acquires 10,445 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Community Trust & Investment Co. increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 242,845 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,445 shares during the period. CVS Health makes up 1.3% of Community Trust & Investment Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $16,788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CVS Health by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 375,771 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $35,018,000 after purchasing an additional 6,741 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,201,085 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $89,253,000 after buying an additional 151,185 shares during the last quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CVS Health in the 1st quarter valued at about $202,000. Personal Capital Advisors Corp boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Personal Capital Advisors Corp now owns 647,077 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $60,301,000 after acquiring an additional 9,424 shares during the period. Finally, Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 149.9% during the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 111,303 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $8,271,000 after purchasing an additional 66,770 shares during the period. 75.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 25,759 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.92, for a total transaction of $1,929,864.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $351,974.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CVS shares. Evercore ISI raised CVS Health from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $81.00 to $83.00 in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com began coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Friday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on CVS Health from $114.00 to $106.00 in a report on Friday, July 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, September 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.28.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CVS traded up $0.91 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $71.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,352,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,110,451. CVS Health Co. has a one year low of $64.62 and a one year high of $104.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $70.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.77.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The pharmacy operator reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.09. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 0.86%. The business had revenue of $88.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 8.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 21st were paid a $0.605 dividend. This represents a $2.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 20th. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.14%.

CVS Health Company Profile

CVS Health Corporation provides health services in the United States. It operates through Health Care Benefits, Pharmacy Services, and Retail/LTC segments. The Health Care Benefits segment offers traditional, voluntary, and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services. It serves employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates.