CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Raised to Outperform at Evercore ISI

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) was upgraded by investment analysts at Evercore ISI from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $83.00 target price on the pharmacy operator’s stock, up from their prior target price of $81.00. Evercore ISI’s target price points to a potential upside of 17.40% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Edward Jones cut CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of CVS Health from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $114.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Friday, July 7th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of CVS Health from $120.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on CVS Health from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.28.

CVS Health Stock Performance

CVS Health stock opened at $70.70 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $90.81 billion, a PE ratio of 31.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $70.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.77. CVS Health has a fifty-two week low of $64.62 and a fifty-two week high of $104.83.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The pharmacy operator reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.09. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 0.86%. The business had revenue of $88.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CVS Health will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at CVS Health

In other CVS Health news, SVP James David Clark sold 25,759 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.92, for a total transaction of $1,929,864.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $351,974.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. LifePro Asset Management purchased a new position in CVS Health in the second quarter valued at $37,000. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CVS Health in the second quarter worth about $37,000. 25 LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC purchased a new position in shares of CVS Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 75.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About CVS Health

CVS Health Corporation provides health services in the United States. It operates through Health Care Benefits, Pharmacy Services, and Retail/LTC segments. The Health Care Benefits segment offers traditional, voluntary, and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services. It serves employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates.