National Pension Service Buys 119,189 Shares of CVS Health Corporation $CVS

National Pension Service grew its stake in CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) by 3.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,999,622 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 119,189 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $301,532,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,399,131 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $8,305,132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,063,737 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 1.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 58,788,585 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $4,055,237,000 after acquiring an additional 800,414 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 valued at $1,966,083,000 after acquiring an additional 675,824 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 15.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 23,532,479 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,623,270,000 after purchasing an additional 3,118,626 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CVS Health during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,358,698,000. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on CVS Health from $92.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $91.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective (up from $99.00) on shares of CVS Health in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CVS Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.82.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of CVS opened at $74.51 on Friday. CVS Health Corporation has a one year low of $53.36 and a one year high of $85.15. The company has a market cap of $94.59 billion, a PE ratio of 196.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $78.90 and a 200-day moving average of $75.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $102.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CVS Health Corporation will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 22nd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 700.00%.

CVS Health Profile

CVS Health Corporation is a diversified healthcare company that operates a large network of retail pharmacies, pharmacy benefit management services and health care solutions. Headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, the company traces its roots to the early 1960s and has grown into an integrated provider of prescription drugs, over‑the‑counter products, clinical services and health insurance offerings. Its operating model combines retail pharmacy locations and in‑store clinics with broader pharmacy and health plan capabilities.

Key business activities include CVS Pharmacy retail operations, MinuteClinic walk‑in medical clinics and HealthHUB locations that offer expanded clinical services.