CVS Upgraded to Strong Buy: $107.24 Consensus Target vs $87.02 Price

For equity analysts and portfolio managers, the September 20 flurry of Wall Street Zen rating changes is a quantifiable market signal: CVS Health now carries a strong-buy with a $107.24 consensus target, 23% above its $87.02 Friday open, while Macy's moved to buy and NewJersey Resources to hold. The coordinated upgrades across healthcare, retail, and utilities suggest a potential shift in risk appetite and sector rotation ahead of Q4.

On Sunday, September 20, 2026, research firm Wall Street Zen issued a trio of rating changes that rippled across three very different sectors: CVS Health was upgraded from buy to strong-buy, Macy's from hold to buy, and NewJersey Resources from sell to hold, according to syndicated research notes cited by dailypolitical.com and themarketsdaily.com. The reports, published on September 22 and 23, provide a snapshot of shifting sell-side sentiment across healthcare, retail, and regulated utilities. While the originating research firm's own notes are not independently verified by these aggregators, the surrounding consensus data from MarketBeat.com offers a broader, more verifiable context.

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CVS's 50-day simple moving average of $98.04 and 200-day of $91.46 suggest the shares have been under near-term pressure despite remaining above their 12-month low of $69.51 and well below the 12-month high of $110.68.

For CVS Health, the upgrade to Wall Street Zen's highest tier follows a string of positive revisions from major banks that began in July and extended through August. JPMorgan Chase lifted its price target from $111.00 to $118.00 with an overweight rating on August 12. Truist Financial boosted its target from $108.00 to $118.00 with a buy rating on July 14. Wells Fargo raised its price target from $103.00 to $123.00 with an overweight rating on July 13. Argus increased its target from $104.00 to $114.00 with a buy rating on August 19, and Robert W. Baird set a $107.00 price objective on August 6. According to MarketBeat, 22 analysts now rate CVS a Buy and one a Hold, producing an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $107.24. The stock opened at $87.02 on Friday, September 18, leaving a gap of roughly 23.2% to that consensus target. CVS's 50-day simple moving average of $98.04 and 200-day of $91.46 suggest the shares have been under near-term pressure despite remaining above their 12-month low of $69.51 and well below the 12-month high of $110.68. With a market capitalization of $111.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a PEG ratio of 0.85, and a beta of 0.59, CVS Health is framed as a large-cap healthcare and pharmacy operator with moderate growth expectations and relatively low volatility.

Macy's upgrade from hold to buy is anchored in a surprisingly strong second quarter reported on September 10. The department store retailer posted earnings per share of $0.63, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.26. Revenue came in at $5.06 billion, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.81 billion. Despite this beat, Macy's overall analyst posture remains cautious: two analysts rate it Buy, nine Hold, and two Sell, with a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $22.78, slightly below the stock's Friday open of $22.80. Morgan Stanley's $30.00 overweight target from July 6 and Telsey Advisory Group's June 4 target raise to $23.00 indicate pockets of bullishness, while BTIG and TD Cowen remain neutral with their reiterations in September. Macy's beta of 1.41 and price-to-earnings ratio of 8.35 reflect a cyclical retailer trading at a low earnings multiple but with significantly higher volatility than the other names in this cluster.

NewJersey Resources, a regulated utility, was moved from sell to hold—a less dramatic but still notable shift. Its consensus rating is Buy with a $61.50 price target, and the stock opened at $52.75 on Friday. JPMorgan trimmed its target to $63.00 on September 11, Huntington Bancshares and New Street Research each set $68.00 price objectives with outperform ratings on September 14, while Wells Fargo downgraded the stock from overweight to equal weight with a $61.00 target on August 5. NJR's defensive profile is underscored by a beta of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, typical for a utility but also indicative of its leverage.