North Star Investment Management Corp. Sells 5,858 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

North Star Investment Management Corp. cut its holdings in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS – Get Rating) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,948 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 5,858 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $5,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVS. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in CVS Health by 38.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,680,490 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $899,511,000 after purchasing an additional 2,697,382 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in CVS Health during the 1st quarter valued at about $262,167,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in CVS Health by 145.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,374,381 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $312,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,311 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP grew its holdings in CVS Health by 159.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 3,146,236 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $291,530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,935,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in CVS Health by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 115,934,841 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $11,056,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726,512 shares during the last quarter. 77.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CVS Health Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:CVS opened at $74.37 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a 52 week low of $73.91 and a 52 week high of $109.69. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $85.40 and a 200 day moving average of $93.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.65.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.07. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.29% and a return on equity of 15.75%. The company had revenue of $83.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.98 earnings per share. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 21st will be given a dividend of $0.605 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 20th. This represents a $2.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 77.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on CVS. Credit Suisse Group upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $130.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $106.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. TheStreet raised shares of CVS Health from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Friday, November 25th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CVS Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.65.

About CVS Health

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CVS Health Corp. is a health solutions company, which engages in the provision of healthcare services. It operates through the following segments: Pharmacy Services, Retail or Long-Term Care, Health Care Benefits, and Corporate and Other. The Pharmacy Services segment focuses on the pharmacy benefit management solutions.