CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Shares Bought by Bank of Nova Scotia

29 Feb 2024, 12:34 by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat Gem

Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS – Free Report) by 120.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 247,889 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 135,375 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $17,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 889,082 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $62,076,000 after buying an additional 16,731 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in CVS Health by 75.2% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 50,634 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,535,000 after acquiring an additional 21,726 shares during the period. Rench Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 0.5% during the third quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 73,182 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $5,110,000 after buying an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in CVS Health by 19.5% during the third quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 21,838 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Samalin Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 5,575 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. 75.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CVS. SVB Leerink assumed coverage on CVS Health in a research report on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on CVS Health from $102.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 11th. Leerink Partnrs restated an “outperform” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.00.

View Our Latest Research Report on CVS

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CVS opened at $75.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $94.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.50. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $64.41 and a fifty-two week high of $83.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.21.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.11. CVS Health had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The business had revenue of $93.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.99 earnings per share. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 8.33 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 1st. Investors of record on Monday, January 22nd were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 19th. This is a positive change from CVS Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. CVS Health’s payout ratio is presently 41.18%.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In other news, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total value of $2,267,947.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 39,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,059,916.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About CVS Health

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