CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $65.09, but opened at $62.88. CVS Health shares last traded at $63.96, with a volume of 2,799,405 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on CVS Health from 67.00 to 70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on CVS Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Leerink Partners upgraded CVS Health from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded CVS Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on CVS Health from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CVS Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.00.

CVS Health Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $79.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.22.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.30. CVS Health had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 1.24%. On average, analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVS Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael F. Mahoney purchased 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $66.70 per share, for a total transaction of $2,001,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,356 shares in the company, valued at $2,625,045.20. This represents a 320.65 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 70,105,899 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,147,054,000 after buying an additional 7,075,209 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,039,777 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,739,927,000 after buying an additional 12,819,148 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 3.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,527,909 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,554,475,000 after buying an additional 1,989,066 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of CVS Health by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,051,540 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,211,582,000 after buying an additional 689,867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of CVS Health by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,666,401 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,196,989,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,126 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the company’s stock.

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.