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

Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $68.71.

Several brokerages have weighed in on CVS. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of CVS Health from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho reduced their price target on CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CVS Health

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 9.7% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 410,001 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,781,000 after buying an additional 36,132 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 28.7% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 46,938 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,951,000 after acquiring an additional 10,465 shares during the last quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 43.8% in the third quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 122,682 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,125,000 after purchasing an additional 37,395 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in CVS Health by 4.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,434,476 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $90,200,000 after purchasing an additional 66,244 shares during the period. Finally, Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 134,523 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $8,459,000 after buying an additional 10,453 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of CVS opened at $52.72 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $66.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.59. CVS Health has a 52 week low of $43.56 and a 52 week high of $80.75.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $95.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that CVS Health will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.51%.

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.