CVS Health’s (CVS) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Truist Financial

Truist Financial reiterated their buy rating on shares of CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a $66.00 price objective on the pharmacy operator’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $90.00.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CVS. SVB Leerink restated a market perform rating and set a $60.00 target price (down previously from $87.00) on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $86.00 to $72.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays initiated coverage on CVS Health in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $78.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on CVS Health from $83.00 to $76.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut CVS Health from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $80.35.

CVS Health Stock Up 1.4 %

CVS stock traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $55.90. The company had a trading volume of 23,946,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,498,538. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $70.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.56. CVS Health has a fifty-two week low of $53.70 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.38). CVS Health had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm had revenue of $88.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that CVS Health will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 19th. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CVS Health news, Director Edward J. Ludwig bought 1,000 shares of CVS Health stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $53.88 per share, with a total value of $53,880.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 21,630 shares in the company, valued at $1,165,424.40. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Edward J. Ludwig purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $53.88 per share, with a total value of $53,880.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,165,424.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Prem S. Shah sold 29,473 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.95, for a total transaction of $2,267,947.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 39,765 shares in the company, valued at $3,059,916.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CVS. Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health during the 1st quarter worth $63,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its position in CVS Health by 1.0% during the first quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 262,335 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $20,924,000 after buying an additional 2,585 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in CVS Health in the 1st quarter worth about $971,000. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CVS Health by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC now owns 27,425 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,187,000 after buying an additional 291 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 28,211 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,210 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

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.