Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 8,307 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its stake in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) by 25.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 24,617 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 8,307 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $1,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CVS. Davis Selected Advisers boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 2,998.1% during the fourth quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 11,385,950 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $511,115,000 after acquiring an additional 11,018,438 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 34.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,071,613 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter worth $116,033,000. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its stake in CVS Health by 7,567.7% during the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 2,402,901 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $107,866,000 after purchasing an additional 2,371,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in CVS Health by 3.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,554,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,066 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $556,941.90. This represents a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CVS. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.83.

CVS Health Trading Down 0.4 %

CVS stock opened at $64.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $81.92 billion, a PE ratio of 17.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.53. CVS Health Co. has a 12 month low of $43.56 and a 12 month high of $80.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $57.24 and its 200 day moving average is $56.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. On average, research analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 72.68%.

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.