GSA Capital Partners LLP Purchases Shares of 12,985 CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 12,985 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $816,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 132.9% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,936,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $764,023,000 after acquiring an additional 7,382,931 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,917,923 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,024,334,000 after purchasing an additional 4,226,225 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 8.0% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,776,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,491,643,000 after buying an additional 3,232,172 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position 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 valued at $108,804,000 after buying an additional 1,701,331 shares during the period. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in CVS Health by 402.5% in the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 2,005,677 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $118,455,000 after buying an additional 1,606,500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CVS. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com lowered CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. 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, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.44.

CVS Health Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of CVS opened at $53.19 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.72. 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 $66.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.55. CVS Health Co. has a 52-week low of $52.71 and a 52-week high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. CVS Health’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.00%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.51%.

CVS Health Company 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.