
CVS$91.41▲ 3.3%CVS plans to break in two. Since buying Aetna, its stock fell far behind an S&P 500 fund
CVS Health said Nov. 4 it will separate its roughly 9,000 drugstores from Aetna and Caremark. At 2:09 p.m. its stock traded near its close on the day the Aetna deal closed in 2018, before dividends, KeyVex's prices show.
KeyVex News··5 min readFact-checked against 5 public records
KeyVex News··5 min readFact-checked against 5 public records
CVS$91.41▲ 3.3%Close, Nov. 3. Prices from Tiingo.The short versionTap to readTap to close
- In 2018, CVS bought the health insurer Aetna, a deal it valued at about $70 billion, putting drugstores, health insurance and drug-benefit management in one company.
- On Nov. 4 it said it will split in two: insurance and drug benefits in one company, its roughly 9,000 drugstores in the other.
- Over those eight years, through Nov. 3, a CVS owner earned about 47% counting reinvested dividends. An S&P 500 index fund earned about 210%.
- CVS's chief executive said it acts "from a position of strength." A Forrester analyst said the move unwinds a central piece of the premise behind its acquisitions, Healthcare Dive reported.
- The split is expected in the first half of 2028, after the board's final approval and an SEC registration for the new company.
The plan: CVS Health said before the market opened on Nov. 4 that it will split into two public companies, with completion expected in the first half of 2028.8-KRelease One keeps the name CVS Health: the Aetna insurer, the Caremark drug-benefit manager, CVS Specialty, Oak Street Health and Signify Health.Release The other, CVS Pharmacy, gets about 9,000 drugstores, the mail pharmacy and MinuteClinic.Release
The stock: CVS closed at $91.41 on Nov. 3.KeyVex At 2:09 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 4 it traded at $80.74, about 11.7% lower.KeyVex That is about where it closed on Nov. 28, 2018, the day CVS completed its purchase of Aetna: $80.27.2018 8-KKeyVex
Why it matters: The Aetna deal, which CVS valued at about $70 billion, set the shape of the company for eight years.2018 8-K Then-chief executive Larry Merlo called the combined company "the front door to quality health care."2018 release In the Nov. 4 release, chief executive David Joyner says CVS Pharmacy will serve as "the front door to health and care in our country."Release Over the same eight years, from the deal's closing day through Nov. 3, CVS stock rose about 14% before dividends, or about 47% with them reinvested; an S&P 500 index fund rose about 175%, or about 210%.KeyVex
CVS Health's stock since the Aetna dealDaily close, Nov. 28, 2018 to Nov. 3, 2026 ▲ 13.9%Show chartHide chart
The 2018 deal
CVS paid Aetna's shareholders $145 in cash and 0.8378 of a CVS share for each Aetna share.2018 8-K Counting Aetna's debt, it put the deal's total value at $78 billion.2018 release
Eight years in the stock
CVS peaked at $110.83 on Feb. 8, 2022, its highest close since the deal closed.KeyVex It fell to $43.78 on Dec. 19, 2024, its lowest close in those years.KeyVex From there it more than doubled, to $91.41 on Nov. 3.KeyVex
View the data
| Holding | Change, Nov. 28, 2018 to Nov. 3, 2026 | Note |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 fund (SPY) (with dividends) | 209.9% | |
| S&P 500 fund (SPY) (price only) | 174.7% | |
| CVS Health (with dividends) | 47.1% | |
| CVS Health (price only) | 13.9% |
Source: Tiingo closes and dividend-adjusted closes via KeyVex. SPY is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF.Data
What goes where
CVS reports three business segments, and they do not line up exactly with the two new companies: the drugstore segment, for one, also fills prescriptions for CVS Specialty, which stays with CVS Health.Q3 releaseRelease Its drugstore segment had $35.5 billion of revenue in the third quarter, down 2.0% from a year earlier.Q3 release
The two segments that hold Caremark and Aetna grew faster. Revenue in the Health Services segment, which includes Caremark, rose 9.5%, to $54.0 billion, and in Aetna's insurance segment 2.4%, to $36.9 billion.Q3 release The same morning, CVS raised its 2026 forecast for adjusted earnings to at least $8.20 a share.Q3 release
What CVS and analysts say
"From a position of strength, and a focus on the long term, we plan to create two focused companies," Joyner, who is also CVS's chairman, said in the release.Release He will lead CVS Health; group president Prem Shah will run CVS Pharmacy.Release
Forrester analyst Arielle Trzcinski said the split "unwinds a central piece of the premise" behind CVS's acquisitions, Healthcare Dive reported.Healthcare Dive Leerink analyst Michael Cherny wrote that it "feels like a complete shock," according to the same report.Healthcare Dive Cherny put part of the drop in CVS shares before the market opened down to uncertainty about the deal and to swings in health stocks after the midterm elections, Reuters reported.Reuters J.P. Morgan analyst Lisa Gill wrote, "We see some logic to the split," Healthcare Dive reported.Healthcare Dive
The plan is not final. It needs the board's final approval, an SEC registration for the new company, and confirmation that it is tax-free for CVS and its shareholders, the release says.Release No such registration was on file with the SEC under CVS Health as of Nov. 4.EDGAR
What to watch
The paper trail
The filings cited here, with the time EDGAR accepted them (Eastern).
| Filed (ET) | Form | Filer | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 4, 2026, 6:34 a.m. | 8-K | CVS Health | Item 7.01: the plan to separate into two public companies (Exhibit 99.1). |
| Nov. 4, 2026, 6:31 a.m. | EX-99.1 | CVS Health | Third-quarter 2026 results; 2026 adjusted earnings forecast raised to at least $8.20 a share. |
| Nov. 28, 2018, 4:15 p.m. | 8-K | CVS Health | Completion of the Aetna acquisition: $145 in cash and 0.8378 of a CVS share per Aetna share, about $70 billion in all. |
Sources
9 sources, 5 of them public records
Public records
- "CVS Health Announces Intent to Create Two Distinct Leaders in Healthcare" (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)SEC EDGAR · Nov. 4, 2026
- CVS Health Corporation, Form 8-K, Item 7.01: Regulation FD DisclosureSEC EDGAR · Nov. 4, 2026
- CVS Health third-quarter 2026 results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)SEC EDGAR · Nov. 4, 2026
- CVS Health Corporation, Form 8-K: completion of the acquisition of Aetna Inc.SEC EDGAR · Nov. 28, 2018
- "CVS Health Completes Acquisition of Aetna" (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)SEC EDGAR · Nov. 28, 2018
Rules and references
- CVS Health Corporation filings, SEC EDGAR company search (Form 10 registrations)SEC EDGAR · checked Nov. 4, 2026
Reporting
- "CVS to split into two companies in stunning strategic about-face"Healthcare Dive · Nov. 4, 2026
- "CVS Health to split in two, separating pharmacy business from insurance" (Reuters)NBC News · Nov. 4, 2026
Data
- Daily prices and dividend-adjusted closes for CVS and SPY, and the Nov. 4 intraday quote (Tiingo)KeyVex · through Nov. 4, 2026
How we got these numbers
- Prices are closes as traded unless marked. The Nov. 4 price is a live quote, the IEX last sale via Tiingo at 2:09 p.m. Eastern ($80.735), not a close: against the Nov. 3 close of $91.41 it is -11.7%, and against the Nov. 28, 2018 close of $80.27 it is +0.6%. $110.83 (Feb. 8, 2022) and $43.78 (Dec. 19, 2024) are the highest and lowest of KeyVex's CVS closes from Nov. 28, 2018 to Nov. 3, 2026. $91.41 is 2.09 times $43.78.
- Price-only change from Nov. 28, 2018 to Nov. 3, 2026: CVS $80.27 to $91.41 (+13.9%), SPY $274.58 to $754.35 (+174.7%). With dividends reinvested, from Tiingo's dividend-adjusted closes: CVS $62.1213 to $91.41 (+47.1%), SPY $243.4314 to $754.35 (+209.9%). The text rounds 174.7% to about 175%, 13.9% to about 14% and 209.9% to about 210%.
- About $70 billion is the aggregate merger consideration CVS stated in its Nov. 28, 2018 Form 8-K, based on its Nov. 27, 2018 close; $78 billion is the total value including Aetna's debt, from its release that day. Segment figures are from CVS's Nov. 4, 2026 results release: third-quarter revenue of $35,498 million for Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness, $53,964 million for Health Services and $36,855 million for Health Care Benefits, rounded in the text. CVS's segments do not map exactly onto the two companies named in the separation release.
- The S&P 500 line in the stock chart follows SPY, as traded, rebased. The Filings switch shows the filing markers from KeyVex's CVS stock page, a selection of congressional trades, insider sales, Form 144 notices, 8-Ks and lobbying filings: not every filing, and not only those tied to this story. The header image was generated for KeyVex by an image model. It is an illustration, not a photograph of a real CVS store. This is a reading of the company's filings and news reports, not investment advice.




