Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 17.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,054 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 7,934 shares during the period. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $1,663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 3,071,613 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its position in CVS Health by 7,567.7% in the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 2,402,901 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $107,866,000 after purchasing an additional 2,371,563 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,554,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,066 shares during the period. TOMS Capital Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $121,987,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 5,864.2% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,730,343 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $108,804,000 after buying an additional 1,701,331 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CVS shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CVS Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.12.

CVS Health Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of CVS opened at $53.95 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $67.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.61. CVS Health Co. has a 52-week low of $43.56 and a 52-week high of $80.75.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. CVS Health’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.93%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 67.51%.

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.