Royal Bank of Canada Boosts CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Price Target to $81.00

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS - Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $74.00 to $81.00 in a report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the pharmacy operator's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CVS. Argus set a $77.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on CVS Health from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of CVS Health from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Edward Jones upgraded shares of CVS Health from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.81.

CVS Health Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:CVS traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $67.08. The stock had a trading volume of 967,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,378,659. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $84.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.33, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.60. CVS Health has a fifty-two week low of $43.56 and a fifty-two week high of $72.51. The business's 50 day moving average is $66.90 and its 200 day moving average is $58.97.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.63. CVS Health had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 1.24%. The company had revenue of $94.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CVS Health will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. CVS Health's payout ratio is currently 63.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total value of $498,487.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $556,941.90. The trade was a 47.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney bought 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $66.70 per share, with a total value of $2,001,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CVS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in CVS Health by 4.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,434,476 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $90,200,000 after purchasing an additional 66,244 shares during the last quarter. InvesTrust acquired a new stake in CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,823,000. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC now owns 7,302 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 650 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in CVS Health by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 173,643 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $7,795,000 after acquiring an additional 2,256 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its holdings in CVS Health by 255.7% in the fourth quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 626 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.