CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Director Edward J. Ludwig Purchases 1,000 Shares

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Director Edward J. Ludwig acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $53.88 per share, with a total value of $53,880.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,165,424.40. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of CVS Health stock opened at $55.15 on Friday. CVS Health Co. has a one year low of $53.70 and a one year high of $83.25. The firm has a market cap of $69.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $73.19 and its 200-day moving average is $73.37.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.38). CVS Health had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company had revenue of $88.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that CVS Health Co. will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 19th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.82%. CVS Health’s payout ratio is presently 46.75%.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,092,040,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in CVS Health by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,691,698 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,660,298,000 after buying an additional 10,837,801 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in CVS Health by 29.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 27,487,238 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,919,159,000 after buying an additional 6,194,441 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in CVS Health by 306.6% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,046,216 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $240,529,000 after buying an additional 2,297,100 shares during the period. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP bought a new stake in CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $111,209,000. Institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CVS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday. Leerink Partnrs cut CVS Health from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on CVS Health from $85.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America decreased their target price on CVS Health from $95.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on CVS Health from $78.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CVS Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.35.

CVS Health Company Profile

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.