Loop Capital Initiates Coverage on Anthem (NYSE:ANTM)

Equities research analysts at Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Anthem (NYSE:ANTM – Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday, The Fly reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Cowen raised their target price on Anthem from $472.00 to $642.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 21st. UBS Group raised their target price on Anthem from $477.00 to $541.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 29th. StockNews.com began coverage on Anthem in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Anthem in a research note on Thursday, May 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $596.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Anthem from $590.00 to $610.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $553.57.

ANTM stock traded down $7.95 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $454.93. The stock had a trading volume of 34,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,189,561. Anthem has a 12-month low of $355.43 and a 12-month high of $533.68. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $500.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $469.53. The firm has a market cap of $109.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Anthem (NYSE:ANTM – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 20th. The company reported $8.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.81 by $0.44. Anthem had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business had revenue of $38.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.01 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Anthem will post 28.4 EPS for the current year.

In related news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $497.14, for a total value of $208,798.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,718,355.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 6,328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.60, for a total transaction of $3,091,860.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,098,869.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,738 shares of company stock valued at $3,764,851 in the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ANTM. Offit Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Anthem by 76.8% in the 1st quarter. Offit Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,755,000 after buying an additional 1,552 shares during the period. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Anthem by 304.4% in the 1st quarter. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,178,000 after buying an additional 1,805 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Anthem in the 1st quarter valued at $267,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Anthem by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 66,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,455,000 after buying an additional 6,251 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Anthem by 42.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000,000 after buying an additional 15,816 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.28% of the company’s stock.

About Anthem (Get Rating)

Anthem, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. It operates through four segments: Commercial & Specialty Business, Government Business, IngenioRx, and Other. The company offers a spectrum of network-based managed care health benefit plans to large and small groups, individuals, Medicaid, and Medicare markets.

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