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

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,450,000 shares, a growth of 22.3% from the November 30th total of 2,820,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ELV. Barclays dropped their price objective on Elevance Health from $622.00 to $501.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Raymond James set a $485.00 price target on Elevance Health in a report on Friday, October 18th. Argus lowered shares of Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Elevance Health from $585.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Elevance Health from $643.00 to $551.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $539.20.

Elevance Health Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE ELV traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $368.76. 567,024 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,245,212. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Elevance Health has a 1-year low of $362.21 and a 1-year high of $567.26. The stock has a market cap of $85.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $398.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $481.34.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $8.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.66 by ($1.29). Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.68% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The company had revenue of $44.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.99 earnings per share. Elevance Health’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Elevance Health will post 32.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is currently 23.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 7,417 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $432.14, for a total value of $3,205,182.38. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,639,915.22. The trade was a 46.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elevance Health

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ELV. Raelipskie Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the third quarter worth about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Elevance Health during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Elevance Health in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Elevance Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 57.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 71 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.