PROVIDENCE – CVS Health Corp. was ranked the second best transparent company among the S&P 250, No. 2 for investor transparency within the health care industry and was awarded Best Proxy Statement in the fourth annual U.S. Transparency Awards sponsored by Labrador, a global communications firm specializing in regulated disclosure documents.
The rankings compared the efficacy of corporate disclosure documents among the top S&P 250 companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, as determined by market capitalization.
Labrador’s experts determined the rankings by reviewing the annual proxy statement, Form 10-K, investor relations website and code of conduct of all S&P 250 companies. The team collected more than 39,000 data points and evaluated each organization’s disclosure documents using 146 different criteria that reflect the award’s four pillars of transparency: accessibility, precision, comparability and availability.
“At a time when companies are being heavily scrutinized by the public, it’s not surprising that investors and other stakeholders now demand a new level of corporate transparency,” said Nneoma E. Njoku, head of Labrador U.S., in a statement. “These awards honor those companies who demonstrate a dedication to transparently communicate for the benefit of their stakeholders. A grand tradition in Europe, the U.S. Transparency Awards – in their fourth year – are quickly becoming a coveted acknowledgment among S&P 250 companies.”
CVS Health Corp. took top honors in proxy statements with Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. and Anthem receiving the next highest rankings. Labrador’s experts said all three honorees stand out by illustrating risk oversight responsibilities among their board, its committees and their management in graphic form, according to the release.
Anthem was No. 1 for investor transparency within the health care industry, followed by CVS Health Corp. and Johnson & Johnson.
The most improved company overall was Becton Dickinson and Co., a medical equipment manufacturer based in Franklin Lakes, N.J., but with a facility in Warwick. Becton was honored due to a commitment to enhancing its corporate disclosure documents year over year, according to the release. Also, Becton was ranked No. 2 in the categories for Best Code of Conduct and for Most Efficient Plain Language – Proxy Statement.
Honeywell International Inc., which is based in Charlotte, N.C., but has locations in Woonsocket and Smithfield and operates in the aerospace, building technologies, performance materials and technologies, and safety and productivity solutions sectors, was ranked No. 3 among the top 10 most transparent companies in the U.S.
The following companies that are not based in Rhode Island but have locations in the Ocean State were named among the industry winners:
- Verizon Inc. was among the top three companies in telecommunication services.
- CBRE Inc. was among the top three companies in real estate.
- Honeywell and Lockheed Martin Corp. were among the top three companies in industrials.
Intel Corp. earned the top honor of Best Overall Corporate Disclosure.
The top 10 most transparent companies were:
- Intel Corp.
- CVS Health Corp.
- Honeywell International Inc.
- The Allstate Corp.
- Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.
- Target Corp.
- Anthem
- American International Group Inc.
- Accenture PLC
- S&P Global Inc.
