CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS) saw a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,850,000 shares, an increase of 5.0% from the October 15th total of 20,800,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CVS Health in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, First Community Trust NA raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 116.2% in the second quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 562 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. 80.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CVS Health Trading Up 5.4 %

Shares of CVS Health stock opened at $56.08 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.19 and a 200 day moving average of $58.60. CVS Health has a fifty-two week low of $52.71 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.55.

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

CVS Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on CVS shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on CVS Health from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial upped their price target on CVS Health from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays dropped their price target on CVS Health from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of CVS Health in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered CVS Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.78.

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.