CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Trading Up 1.5% After Analyst Upgrade

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)’s stock price shot up 1.5% on Tuesday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $65.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. CVS Health traded as high as $57.33 and last traded at $57.03. 2,609,261 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 13,086,002 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.20.

CVS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Truist Financial cut their price target on CVS Health from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.12.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 14.6% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 20,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 2,578 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $795,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the second quarter worth approximately $1,269,000. Wallace Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the second quarter worth $457,000. Finally, Regal Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CVS Health by 16.4% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 82,350 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $4,864,000 after acquiring an additional 11,617 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CVS Health Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.19. The company has a market capitalization of $71.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.80.

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

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.66%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.51%.

CVS Health Company Profile

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.