CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Upgraded at Leerink Partners

Leerink Partners upgraded shares of CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Leerink Partners currently has $75.00 price target on the pharmacy operator’s stock, up from their prior price target of $55.00.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on CVS. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.28.

CVS Health Trading Down 1.0 %

CVS Health stock opened at $65.71 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $51.11 and its 200-day moving average is $56.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.80. CVS Health has a 1 year low of $43.56 and a 1 year high of $80.75. The company has a market cap of $82.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.61.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. On average, equities analysts expect that CVS Health will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CVS Health

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in CVS Health by 124.1% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 61,744 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,882,000 after buying an additional 34,198 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in CVS Health by 61.9% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 14,853 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $934,000 after purchasing an additional 5,679 shares during the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CVS Health in the 3rd quarter worth about $202,000. Creative Planning increased its position in CVS Health by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 250,891 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $15,776,000 after purchasing an additional 47,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its position in CVS Health by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 17,692 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,112,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.