CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Receives $69.82 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $69.82.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CVS Health from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

CVS Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CVS opened at $65.63 on Monday. CVS Health has a twelve month low of $43.56 and a twelve month high of $80.75. The firm has a market cap of $82.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.93, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50 day moving average of $58.47 and a 200 day moving average of $56.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. As a group, research analysts expect that CVS Health will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $556,941.90. This represents a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney acquired 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $66.70 per share, with a total value of $2,001,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,625,045.20. The trade was a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CVS. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of CVS Health during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its position in shares of CVS Health by 255.7% during the 4th quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 626 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. 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.