#4. CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS)
– Number of shares held by Sprott as of March 31: 402,000
– Value of Sprott’s holding as of March 31: $41.70 Million
The investment firm that carries the name of billionaire Eric Sprott increased its stake in CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) by 11,200 shares during the March quarter to 402,000 shares, which were valued at $41.70 million at quarter-end. It should be noted though that Sprott also acquired a new block of 387,900 shares underlying ‘Put’ options during the same quarter. The integrated pharmacy health care company’s market value gained 4% year-to-date, which currently stands at around $112 billion. In mid-March, analysts at Credit Suisse initiated coverage on CVS Health with an ‘Outperform’ rating and a price target of $115, saying that the Rhode Island-based company will benefit from the acquisition of Omnicare in August 2015. In December, CVS also completed the acquisition of the pharmacy and clinic businesses of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), which involved the purchase of 1,672 pharmacies across 47 states. CVS Health pays out a quarterly dividend of $0.425 per share, which equates to a dividend yield of 1.67%. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management upped its position in CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) by 17% during the January-March quarter to 142,324 shares.
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#3. UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH)
– Number of shares held by Sprott as of March 31: 371,830
– Value of Sprott’s holding as of March 31: $47.93 Million
Sprott Asset Management was mildly bullish on UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) during the first quarter of 2016, as the firm increased its stake in the company by 24,600 shares or 7% quarter-on-quarter. As in the case of CVS, the Toronto-based asset manager purchased put options on 362,500 shares of UnitedHealth during the first three months of this year. During its recent earnings call, the U.S. biggest health insurer announced plans to stop participating in multi-carrier health insurance marketplaces for individuals through exchanges, saying that the exchange market established by the Affordable Care Act has been risker than previously expected and that the company “cannot broadly serve it on an effective and sustained basis”. However, analysts believe that overall impact of UnitedHealth’s decision is not likely to be overly significant on the so-called Obamacare, even though individual markets in certain states may experience less competition. UnitedHealth’s shares are 13% in the green year-to-date. Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management owned 7.90 million shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) at the end of the December quarter.
