CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to “Overweight” Rating

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $66.00 target price on the pharmacy operator’s stock, up from their prior target price of $60.00.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on CVS Health from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen raised shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $59.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CVS Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.28.

CVS Health Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of CVS Health stock opened at $56.83 on Monday. CVS Health has a 1-year low of $52.71 and a 1-year high of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $71.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.61.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. CVS Health’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that CVS Health will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.68%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is currently 67.51%.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 15,833 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after buying an additional 1,680 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in CVS Health by 34.9% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 86,556 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $6,904,000 after acquiring an additional 22,400 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 55.5% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 73,343 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $5,849,000 after purchasing an additional 26,173 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 29.3% in the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,917 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. 80.66% of the stock is 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.