CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Sets New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $68.00 to $58.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. CVS Health traded as low as $52.71 and last traded at $53.05, with a volume of 4140766 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $55.09.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on CVS Health from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial increased their target price on CVS Health from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen upgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.44.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 132.9% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,936,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $764,023,000 after acquiring an additional 7,382,931 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 12.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,917,923 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,024,334,000 after buying an additional 4,226,225 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in CVS Health by 8.0% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,776,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,491,643,000 after buying an additional 3,232,172 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 3,071,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,554,475,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989,066 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CVS Health Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.76. The company has a market cap of $66.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.55.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The business had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. CVS Health’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.51%.

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.