CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Shares Down 0.5% – What’s Next?

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)’s stock price traded down 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $55.65 and last traded at $56.06. 999,238 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 12,395,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.35.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $72.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.12.

CVS Health Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $50.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.02. The company has a market capitalization of $67.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.61.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that CVS Health Co. will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s payout ratio is 67.51%.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 3.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,554,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,066 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,361,673 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,651,997,000 after buying an additional 461,569 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,610,579 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $880,319,000 after buying an additional 6,475,271 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,918,949 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $579,932,000 after buying an additional 710,281 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 34.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,897,034 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $748,085,000 after buying an additional 3,071,613 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

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.