CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $72.10.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CVS shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $61.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of CVS Health from $101.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Steph & Co. boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 192.0% in the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 438 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Trading Down 1.5 %

CVS Health stock opened at $57.51 on Monday. CVS Health has a one year low of $52.77 and a one year high of $83.25. The stock has a market cap of $72.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $58.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.44.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.10. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The company had revenue of $91.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $91.41 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that CVS Health will post 6.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s payout ratio is presently 46.75%.

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.