Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $517.03.

Several research firms have issued reports on ELV. Stephens cut shares of Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $520.00 to $440.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Elevance Health Price Performance

Elevance Health stock opened at $421.72 on Monday. Elevance Health has a 12-month low of $362.21 and a 12-month high of $567.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $395.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $428.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.80 by $0.04. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.38% and a return on equity of 18.28%. Equities analysts predict that Elevance Health will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total transaction of $1,388,635.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,008,970.80. The trade was a 25.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.13, for a total transaction of $183,902.59. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,745.11. The trade was a 19.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ELV. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,485,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,926,028,000 after buying an additional 138,380 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,687,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,557,759,000 after buying an additional 129,709 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,618,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,917,004,000 after buying an additional 464,137 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,355,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,344,556,000 after buying an additional 1,893,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,963,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,826,447,000 after buying an additional 115,971 shares during the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.