CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Hits New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

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. The stock had previously closed at $55.09.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on CVS. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com downgraded CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen raised CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CVS Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.44.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CVS Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in CVS Health by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 237,347 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $14,915,000 after acquiring an additional 59,134 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of CVS Health by 67.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 64,489 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $4,055,000 after purchasing an additional 25,925 shares in the last quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of CVS Health during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,128,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in CVS Health by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 520,107 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,704,000 after buying an additional 20,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in CVS Health during the third quarter worth $409,000. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 has a market capitalization of $66.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.76.

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

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.02%. CVS Health’s payout ratio 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.