Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,630,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the December 15th total of 3,450,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,940,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ELV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Elevance Health from $593.00 to $495.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Argus lowered shares of Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Elevance Health from $585.00 to $478.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $536.53.

Elevance Health Price Performance

NYSE:ELV traded down $1.00 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $384.26. 2,696,400 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,457,754. Elevance Health has a 1-year low of $362.21 and a 1-year high of $567.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.12 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $388.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $466.18.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $8.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.66 by ($1.29). The business had revenue of $44.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.47 billion. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 19.56% and a net margin of 3.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.99 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Elevance Health will post 32.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elevance Health

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ELV. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,551,000 after buying an additional 3,049 shares during the period. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT grew its position in Elevance Health by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 39,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,786 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Elevance Health by 85,533.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 532,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,972,000 after purchasing an additional 532,016 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 1,711.9% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 53,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,858,000 after purchasing an additional 50,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 22,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,328,000 after buying an additional 2,725 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

About Elevance Health

Elevance Health, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Health Benefits, CarelonRx, Carelon Services, and Corporate & Other. It offers a variety of health plans and services to program members; health products; an array of fee-based administrative managed care services; and specialty and other insurance products and services, such as stop loss, dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental health insurance benefits.