Q1 EPS Estimates for CVS Health Lifted by Leerink Partnrs

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) – Investment analysts at Leerink Partnrs increased their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of CVS Health in a research report issued on Wednesday, February 12th. Leerink Partnrs analyst M. Cherny now anticipates that the pharmacy operator will post earnings of $1.62 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $1.20. Leerink Partnrs has a “Strong-Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for CVS Health’s current full-year earnings is $5.14 per share. Leerink Partnrs also issued estimates for CVS Health’s Q2 2025 earnings at $1.61 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.28 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.37 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $5.88 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $7.16 EPS.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%.

CVS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com raised CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.28.

CVS Health Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:CVS opened at $65.71 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.04. CVS Health has a one year low of $43.56 and a one year high of $80.75. The company has a market capitalization of $82.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.61. 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.665 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 67.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CVS Health

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Solel Partners LP grew its position in CVS Health by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Solel Partners LP now owns 1,424,400 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $63,941,000 after purchasing an additional 295,500 shares in the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter valued at $149,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in CVS Health by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 115,253 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $5,174,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785 shares in the last quarter. Whitebox Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CVS Health during the 4th quarter worth about $249,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.