Investors Purchase High Volume of CVS Health Call Options (NYSE:CVS)

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 96,851 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 64% compared to the average volume of 59,025 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CVS Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,071,613 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in CVS Health by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,554,475,000 after buying an additional 1,989,066 shares during the period. TOMS Capital Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in CVS Health during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $121,987,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in CVS Health by 5,864.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,730,343 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $108,804,000 after buying an additional 1,701,331 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 33.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,289,788 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $310,722,000 after acquiring an additional 1,327,855 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE CVS opened at $53.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $67.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.24. CVS Health has a 1 year low of $43.56 and a 1 year high of $80.75.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that CVS Health will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CVS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho cut their price objective on CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on CVS Health from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CVS Health presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.71.

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.