CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after Wolfe Research raised their price target on the stock from $85.00 to $100.00. The stock had previously closed at $76.53, but opened at $79.14. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. CVS Health shares last traded at $79.1990, with a volume of 4,167,525 shares traded.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $71.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on CVS Health from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CVS Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CVS Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 1.6% during the second quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 409,735 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $28,264,000 after purchasing an additional 6,615 shares during the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its position in CVS Health by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $231,808,000 after buying an additional 572,533 shares during the last quarter. Holderness Investments Co. purchased a new position in CVS Health during the first quarter worth about $300,000. Red Mountain Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $293,000. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 607.5% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 242,221 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $16,708,000 after purchasing an additional 207,984 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CVS Health Stock Up 3.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $100.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 207.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.47.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.24. CVS Health had a return on equity of 11.45% and a net margin of 0.12%.The company had revenue of $102.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. CVS Health’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. CVS Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.550-6.650 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that CVS Health Corporation will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, October 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 23rd. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 700.00%.

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.