CVS Health Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.67 (NYSE:CVS)

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.665 per share by the pharmacy operator on Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%.

CVS Health has raised its dividend by an average of 10.0% per year over the last three years. CVS Health has a payout ratio of 38.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect CVS Health to earn $6.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.66 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.3%.

CVS Health Trading Up 1.2 %

CVS opened at $68.71 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.28. The company has a market cap of $86.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. CVS Health has a one year low of $43.56 and a one year high of $80.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.81.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released 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 return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 1.24%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CVS Health will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CVS shares. StockNews.com raised CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.83.

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.