CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.25.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $71.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Baird R W raised CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on CVS Health from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $78.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered CVS Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th.

CVS Health Price Performance

CVS opened at $75.31 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $69.70 and a 200 day moving average of $67.13. The stock has a market cap of $95.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.04, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. CVS Health has a 52-week low of $43.56 and a 52-week high of $77.34.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $98.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.87 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.51% and a net margin of 1.17%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. CVS Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CVS Health will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 23rd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 74.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CVS Health

In other news, Director Anne A. Finucane sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.02, for a total transaction of $532,650.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,156 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,573,519.12. This trade represents a 25.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,399,131 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $8,305,132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,063,737 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in CVS Health by 4.8% in the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 73,459,122 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $4,976,856,000 after purchasing an additional 3,353,223 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 1.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 58,788,585 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $4,055,237,000 after buying an additional 800,414 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,635,233 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,966,083,000 after buying an additional 675,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 23,532,479 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,623,270,000 after buying an additional 3,118,626 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About CVS Health

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.