Employees Retirement System of Texas Acquires New Shares in CVS Health Corporation $CVS

Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 21,111 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,456,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CVS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CVS Health by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,399,131 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $8,305,132,000 after buying an additional 2,063,737 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 73,459,122 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $4,976,856,000 after acquiring an additional 3,353,223 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 2.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,635,233 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,966,083,000 after acquiring an additional 675,824 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 13.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,413,853 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,383,039,000 after purchasing an additional 2,375,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 14.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,309,289 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,037,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942,886 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus boosted their target price on shares of CVS Health from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on CVS Health from $103.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Mizuho increased their target price on CVS Health from $76.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on CVS Health from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.41.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of CVS opened at $79.88 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. CVS Health Corporation has a 52 week low of $43.56 and a 52 week high of $85.15. The stock has a market cap of $101.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 210.22, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.60.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.24. CVS Health had a return on equity of 11.45% and a net margin of 0.12%.The company had revenue of $102.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. CVS Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.550-6.650 EPS. On average, analysts expect that CVS Health Corporation will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 700.00%.

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.