The Top 4 CVS Shareholders (CVS)

Consumer Value Stores, better known as CVS Health Corp (CVS), is the largest pharmacy and drugstore chain in the United States. As of November 2018, the company operates 9,800 pharmacy locations and more than 1,100 MinuteClinic locations in four countries. After Amazon (AMZN) acquired online pharmacy PillPack in January 2018, solidifying its entrance into the pharmacy market, CVS went on the offense. The pharmacy and drugstore chain purchased health insurance company Aetna Inc. (AET) in a $69 billion deal that was approved by shareholders in March 2018.

CVS Health Corp reported Q3 2018 earnings on November 6, 2018. The pharmacy and drugstore chain reported $47.3 billion in revenues this quarter, beating Wall Street estimates of $47.2 billion and last-year revenues of $46.2 billion.

Here are the four largest individual shareholders of CVS.

Larry J. Merlo

Larry J. Merlo is the director, president, and chief executive officer of CVS Health Corp. Merlo joined CVS as an on-site assistant manager in 1990 after the company acquired People's Drug, a chain of drugstores in Alexandra, West Virginia. Just over twenty years later, Merlo had worked his way up to the position of CEO at the largest pharmacy and drugstore chain in the world. Under Merlo's guidance, CVS has aggressively built out its health section, making massive acquisitions like their $2.1 billion purchase of Coram, an enteral nutrition company, and their $12.7 billion purchase of Omnicare, which supplies prescription drugs to nursing homes.

Per Merlo's latest filing with the SEC on April 1, 2018, the CVS CEO owns 330,107 shares of the company directly and another 370,165 held indirectly through a trust. With a combined 700,000 shares, Merlo weighs in as the company's single-largest individual shareholder.

C. David Brown II

C. David Brown II sits on the board of directors of CVS and is the company's second-largest individual shareholder. Mr. Brown previously served on the board of Caremark Rx, Inc. from March 2001 until March 2007, when Caremark and CVS Health closed a merger deal. Brown also serves as a director of Rayonier Advanced Materials and previously served as a chair of Broad and Cassel, a Florida-based law firm.

According to a May 4, 2018 filing with the SEC, Brown holds 101,252 shares of CVS.

Troyen A. Brennan 

Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Troyen A. Brennan, M.D. is the Chief Medical Officer at Aetna Inc. CVS Health CEO Larry J. Merlo expects to close the $69 billion Aetna Inc. acquisition later this year and named Brennan as the company's executive vice president and chief medical officer.

Brennan owns 84,723 shares of CVS stock as of an April 1, 2018 SEC filing, making him the company's third-largest shareholder. 

Helena Foulkes

Helena Foulkes is the former president of CVS's pharmacy division, serving in the position from 2014 until her departure from the company in February 2018. Foulkes held several other roles at CVS since joining the company in 1992, including executive vice president and chief marketing officer at CVS Caremark. In February 2018, Foulkes was named chief executive officer of Hudon's Bay Company, the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor.

Although Foulkes' stock ownership is subject to change after leaving the company, she holds 45,107 shares of CVS as of February 16, 2018.