Elevance Health’s (ELV) Buy Rating Reiterated at Truist Financial

Truist Financial reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $600.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $580.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $557.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $580.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $602.00 to $604.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $572.00 to $574.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Elevance Health from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $587.64.

Elevance Health Price Performance

Elevance Health stock opened at $531.42 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $509.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $483.89. The company has a market capitalization of $123.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.78. Elevance Health has a 1 year low of $412.00 and a 1 year high of $539.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $10.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.54 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $42.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.49 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.64% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Elevance Health will post 37.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.64%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $376,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,554,500. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. abrdn plc boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 86.8% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 278,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,281,000 after buying an additional 129,364 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Elevance Health by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 52,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,663,000 after purchasing an additional 9,199 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Elevance Health in the 4th quarter valued at $218,000. Chicago Capital LLC raised its position in Elevance Health by 244.2% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 7,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,314,000 after purchasing an additional 4,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Elevance Health in the 4th quarter valued at $2,235,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Company Profile

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.