CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Shares Up 3.2% – What’s Next?

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)’s stock price shot up 3.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $63.14 and last traded at $63.31. 2,559,035 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 11,280,137 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CVS has been the topic of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of CVS Health from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.94.

CVS Health Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $79.09 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.60.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.63. CVS Health had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 1.24%. The firm had revenue of $94.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 22nd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.48%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total value of $498,487.55. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $556,941.90. The trade was a 47.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.22% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CVS Health

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in CVS Health by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 118,335,394 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $8,017,223,000 after buying an additional 969,027 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in CVS Health by 4.8% during the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 73,459,122 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $4,976,856,000 after buying an additional 3,353,223 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in CVS Health by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,039,777 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,739,927,000 after buying an additional 12,819,148 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in CVS Health by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,051,540 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,211,582,000 after buying an additional 689,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in CVS Health by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,666,401 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,196,989,000 after buying an additional 1,212,126 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

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.