Royal Bank of Canada Cuts CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Price Target to $58.00

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) had its price target trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on CVS Health from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on CVS Health from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of CVS Health from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.44.

CVS Health Trading Down 3.4 %

NYSE CVS traded down $1.90 during trading on Friday, reaching $53.19. 16,695,415 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,341,820. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.72. 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 firm has a market cap of $66.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.55. CVS Health has a fifty-two week low of $52.71 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.72 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. Analysts predict that CVS Health will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.51%.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVS. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in CVS Health by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 410,001 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,781,000 after acquiring an additional 36,132 shares in the last quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. increased its holdings in CVS Health by 43.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 122,682 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $7,125,000 after buying an additional 37,395 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C bought a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $57,584,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in CVS Health by 5.7% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 448,323 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,191,000 after acquiring an additional 24,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional lifted its stake in CVS Health by 698.0% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 74,609 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $4,691,000 after purchasing an additional 65,259 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.