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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ELV. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $530.00 price objective (down previously from $646.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Baird R W upgraded Elevance Health to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Elevance Health in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $643.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Elevance Health from $624.00 to $589.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $604.29.

Elevance Health Trading Up 0.4 %

ELV stock traded up $2.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $541.50. 23,080 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,000,955. Elevance Health has a 52-week low of $431.38 and a 52-week high of $567.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $536.03 and its 200-day moving average is $528.77. The company has a market cap of $125.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

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

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is 24.64%.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In other Elevance Health news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 305 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 9,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,926,213.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 305 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $506.76, for a total value of $154,561.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,926,213.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Gail Boudreaux sold 34,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.98, for a total value of $17,033,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,478,674.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,058 shares of company stock valued at $17,588,116. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elevance Health

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ELV. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 34.0% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,062,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,698,000 after buying an additional 523,910 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC bought a new position in Elevance Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,244,000. Focused Investors Fund L P bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 1st quarter valued at about $249,884,000. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the 1st quarter worth approximately $203,389,000. Finally, Maj Invest Holding A S bought a new position in Elevance Health in the 2nd quarter valued at about $173,753,000. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.