CVS Caremark Corporation Raises Dividend; Announces Buyback; Gives FY14 Guidance (CVS)

At CVS Caremark Corporation’s (CVS) annual analyst day, the company reaffirmed its 2013 guidance and gave guidance for full year 2014, and also announced a 22% dividend raise and a stock repurchase program.

Dividend Raise

CVS will now be a quarterly dividend of 27.5 cents, which is up from its previous payout of 22.5 cents. The company’s dividend is payable on February 3, 2014 to all shareholders on record as of January 23, 2014.

Stock Buyback

CVS Caremark’s board of directors also approved up to $6 billion in share repurchases of the company’s common stock. The repurchase plan will be completed over a multi-year period and allows the company to make repurchases from time to time through “open market repurchases, privately negotiated transactions, accelerated share repurchase transactions, and/or other derivative transactions.”

Guidance

Dave Denton, CVS Caremark’s executive vice president and CFO, reaffirmed CVS’s views for 2013 and gave guidance for FY2014. For FY2014 the company expects EPS from continuing operations in the range of $4.36 to $4.50, and expects GAAP diluted EPS to fall in the range of $4.09 to $4.23.

Stock Performance

CVS stock was inactive in pre-market trading. YTD, the company’s stock is up 34.48%.