Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for CVS Health (NYSE:CVS)

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $58.00 target price on the pharmacy operator’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price points to a potential upside of 1.05% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on CVS. Barclays cut their price objective on CVS Health from $78.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. UBS Group lowered CVS Health from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America dropped their price target on CVS Health from $95.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Leerink Partnrs lowered CVS Health from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on CVS Health in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $61.00 price target for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.05.

CVS Health Stock Performance

Shares of CVS stock traded down $0.93 on Tuesday, hitting $57.40. The company had a trading volume of 2,456,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,587,172. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. CVS Health has a twelve month low of $52.77 and a twelve month high of $83.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $58.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.90. The firm has a market cap of $72.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.52.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmacy operator reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.38). CVS Health had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.53%. The business had revenue of $88.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.20 EPS. CVS Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CVS Health will post 7.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Edward J. Ludwig purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $53.88 per share, for a total transaction of $53,880.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,165,424.40. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CVS Health

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,696,285 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $9,293,299,000 after acquiring an additional 533,659 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in CVS Health by 8.0% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,776,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,491,643,000 after buying an additional 3,232,172 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in CVS Health by 12.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,917,923 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,024,334,000 after buying an additional 4,226,225 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CVS Health in the fourth quarter valued at $1,092,040,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in CVS Health by 1.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,143,822 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,048,351,000 after buying an additional 184,297 shares during the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.