CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,850,000 shares, a growth of 5.0% from the October 15th total of 20,800,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CVS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on CVS Health from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of CVS Health from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on CVS Health from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CVS Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.78.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CVS Health

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CVS Health by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 100,789 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $6,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,342 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 10,465 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of CVS Health by 124.6% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,508,071 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $94,828,000 after buying an additional 836,569 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CVS Health by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,400 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,084,000 after buying an additional 3,788 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CVS Health by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,361,673 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,651,997,000 after acquiring an additional 461,569 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CVS Health Stock Performance

NYSE:CVS opened at $55.82 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $59.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.60. CVS Health has a 1-year low of $52.71 and a 1-year high of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.17, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.55.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that CVS Health will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.77%. 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.