Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Mizuho raised their price target on the stock from $575.00 to $585.00. Mizuho currently has a buy rating on the stock. Elevance Health traded as high as $539.95 and last traded at $539.47, with a volume of 206072 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $533.73.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on ELV. UBS Group increased their price objective on Elevance Health from $585.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Elevance Health from $574.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Elevance Health from $557.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target (up previously from $580.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Friday, April 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $587.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Elevance Health news, EVP Felicia F. Norwood sold 14,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.74, for a total transaction of $7,531,605.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 31,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,791,460.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Felicia F. Norwood sold 14,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.74, for a total value of $7,531,605.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 31,460 shares in the company, valued at $16,791,460.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ELV. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in Elevance Health by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,457,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,102,208,000 after buying an additional 196,010 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Elevance Health by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,374,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,591,237,000 after buying an additional 248,150 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in Elevance Health by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 3,087,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,456,132,000 after buying an additional 27,986 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Elevance Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,347,434,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Elevance Health by 1.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,784,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,212,521,000 after buying an additional 46,322 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Stock Down 0.4 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $511.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $486.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 24.64%.

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.