Piper Sandler Increases CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Price Target to $74.00

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) had its target price hoisted by Piper Sandler from $72.00 to $74.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

CVS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of CVS Health from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Leerink Partners raised shares of CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of CVS Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.39.

CVS Health Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of CVS opened at $67.22 on Friday. CVS Health has a 1-year low of $43.56 and a 1-year high of $80.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.60 and a 200 day moving average of $57.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 9.11%. On average, research analysts expect that CVS Health will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.68%.

Insider Transactions at CVS Health

In related news, SVP James David Clark sold 7,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.35, for a total transaction of $498,487.55. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $556,941.90. This represents a 47.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,625,045.20. The trade was a 320.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CVS Health

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 28.7% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 46,938 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,951,000 after acquiring an additional 10,465 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 4.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,434,476 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $90,200,000 after acquiring an additional 66,244 shares during the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 8.4% during the third quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 134,523 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $8,459,000 after acquiring an additional 10,453 shares during the last quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee grew its position in shares of CVS Health by 25,484.4% during the fourth quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee now owns 11,513 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $517,000 after acquiring an additional 11,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B&D White Capital Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health during the fourth quarter worth approximately $417,000. 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.