Brokerages Set CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) Price Target at $82.57

Shares of CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $82.5714.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CVS. Barclays lifted their target price on CVS Health from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $76.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CVS opened at $81.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.57. CVS Health has a 52 week low of $43.56 and a 52 week high of $83.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.60.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.35. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.17% and a return on equity of 10.51%. The firm had revenue of $98.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. CVS Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. On average, analysts expect that CVS Health will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, October 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CVS Health news, Director Anne A. Finucane sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.02, for a total value of $532,650.00. Following the sale, the director owned 22,156 shares in the company, valued at $1,573,519.12. This trade represents a 25.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CVS. Norges Bank bought a new position in CVS Health during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,358,698,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 87.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,927,650 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $672,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,632,530 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 73,459,122 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $4,976,856,000 after purchasing an additional 3,353,223 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in CVS Health by 15.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 23,532,479 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,623,270,000 after buying an additional 3,118,626 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in CVS Health in the first quarter worth approximately $204,421,000. 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.