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

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,780,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the August 15th total of 1,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 962,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Elevance Health Stock Up 0.2 %

ELV stock traded up $1.22 during trading on Thursday, hitting $540.68. 56,008 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,001,137. Elevance Health has a 1 year low of $431.38 and a 1 year high of $567.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $536.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $528.77. The stock has a market cap of $125.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.49.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $10.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.99 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $43.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.99 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.89% and a return on equity of 20.64%. Elevance Health’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.04 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Elevance Health will post 37.25 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is presently 24.64%.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In related news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $506.76, for a total transaction of $154,561.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,926,213.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Elevance Health news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $506.76, for a total value of $154,561.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,926,213.96. 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.52, for a total transaction of $400,234.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,647,610.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,058 shares of company stock worth $17,588,116 in the last three months. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 114.8% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 31,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,765,000 after acquiring an additional 16,737 shares during the last quarter. Brave Warrior Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Brave Warrior Advisors LLC now owns 1,756,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $828,367,000 after acquiring an additional 129,055 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 14,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 276.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 82,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,823,000 after buying an additional 60,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 119.7% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 12,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,292,000 after buying an additional 6,610 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on ELV shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $615.00 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $649.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $600.00 to $593.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $643.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Elevance Health presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $604.29.

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.