Evercore ISI Issues Positive Forecast for CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Stock Price

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) had its price target lifted by Evercore ISI from $85.00 to $95.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $84.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (up previously from $92.00) on shares of CVS Health in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $80.00 to $92.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.33.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CVS opened at $76.70 on Thursday. CVS Health has a 1 year low of $43.56 and a 1 year high of $85.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50-day moving average is $76.35 and its 200 day moving average is $68.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 201.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.60.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.24. CVS Health had a net margin of 0.12% and a return on equity of 11.45%. The company had revenue of $102.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $98.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. CVS Health’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. CVS Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.550-6.650 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CVS Health will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 23rd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 owned 22,156 shares in the company, valued at $1,573,519.12. This represents a 25.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in CVS Health by 503.8% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,896,341 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $128,477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,257 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. raised its position in CVS Health by 1.6% in the second quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 409,735 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $28,264,000 after acquiring an additional 6,615 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in CVS Health by 25.0% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 648,266 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $43,920,000 after acquiring an additional 129,535 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in CVS Health by 2.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,981,262 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $608,481,000 after acquiring an additional 183,813 shares during the period. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its position in CVS Health by 20.1% in the first quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $231,808,000 after acquiring an additional 572,533 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

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.