Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Short Interest Up 5.2% in January

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,630,000 shares, an increase of 5.2% from the December 31st total of 3,450,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,940,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elevance Health

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cypress Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 3.5% in the third quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 1,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fullcircle Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fullcircle Wealth LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $906,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ELV. Stephens lowered shares of Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $520.00 to $440.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Elevance Health from $589.00 to $484.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Elevance Health from $643.00 to $551.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on Elevance Health from $605.00 to $555.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $517.03.

Elevance Health Stock Down 0.7 %

ELV opened at $402.29 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $386.45 and a 200-day moving average of $456.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Elevance Health has a 1-year low of $362.21 and a 1-year high of $567.26.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.80 by $0.04. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.38% and a return on equity of 18.28%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Elevance Health will post 34.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.46%.

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.