CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) rose on Wednesday after the biggest U.S. retailer of prescription drugs boosted the low end of its 2016 earnings forecast.
The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 21% to $0.425 per share.
Shares gained 4.5% to $96.75 at 12:33 p.m. in New York, paring losses over the past six months to 6.3%.
CVS now anticipates adjusted earnings of $5.73 to $5.88 per share for the year. That compares to an initial guidance range that started at $5.68 per share and underwhelmed investors after the company laid it out in October.
Analysts currently expect, on average, earnings of $5.82 per share, according to FactSet.
CVS Health runs about 7,900 retail drugstores but draws most of its revenue from its pharmacy benefits management business, which operates prescription drug plans for customers like insurers and employers.
Also on Wednesday, CVS said it has completed the acquisition of Target's (NYSE:TGT) pharmacy and clinic businesses for about $1.9bn.
The deal that was announced in June transfers Target's 1,672 pharmacies in 47 states to CVS, which will rebrand and operate them in a store-within-a-store format.
The transaction also includes 79 Target clinic locations, which will become MinuteClinic stores. CVS will also add 20 new clinics in Target stores within three years of the transaction's close.
CVS also said it expects to repurchase $4bn of its shares during the year. The company has a total market value of about $102bn.
“We are now positioned more broadly than ever with the right strategy across the health care continuum,” CVS CEO Larry Merlo said in an analyst conference on Wednesday.