ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Dividend Strategy” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The ClearBridge Dividend Strategy proved resilient and delivered positive returns despite a 4.3% decline in the benchmark S&P 500 Index. Despite increased caution over the economy and markets, the firm believes that the portfolio is well-positioned given its focus on valuation and capacity to financially weather the storms and generate steady, strong dividend growth. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its first quarter 2025 investor letter, ClearBridge Dividend Strategy emphasized stocks such as CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS). CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) is a US-based health solutions provider. The one-month return of CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) was -6.50%, and its shares lost 18.58% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 7, 2025, CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) stock closed at $63.85 per share with a market capitalization of $80.603 billion.
ClearBridge Dividend Strategy stated the following regarding CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Meanwhile, we initiated positions in CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS), Inditex and TE Connectivity. Poor execution at Aetna, CVS’s health insurance business, and declining retail profits precipitated a decline in the shares which created an attractive entry point. We anticipate that underwriting improvements for its Medicare Advantage program will yield considerable profit growth over the next few years, which should lead to a re-rating in the stock. TE Connectivity makes connectors for a wide range of uses such as automobiles, data centers and medical devices. Its main end markets, auto and industrial, have come under some cyclical pressure, which weighed on the stock and provided an attractive entry point to this strong business.”
A row of shelves in a retail pharmacy, demonstrating the variety of drugs and over-the-counter products.
CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 74 hedge fund portfolios held CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 63 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
We covered CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) in another article, where we shared the list of best high yield stocks for a dividend capture strategy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.