Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Upgraded at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $450.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on ELV. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stephens cut Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $520.00 to $440.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.81.

Elevance Health Stock Up 2.5 %

ELV opened at $431.29 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $396.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $427.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.45. Elevance Health has a one year low of $362.21 and a one year high of $567.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.80 by $0.04. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 3.38%. Analysts anticipate that Elevance Health will post 33.96 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In other news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total transaction of $1,388,635.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,116 shares in the company, valued at $4,008,970.80. This represents a 25.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.13, for a total value of $183,902.59. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,745.11. The trade was a 19.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ELV. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Elevance Health by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $833,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in Elevance Health by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,551,000 after buying an additional 3,049 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Elevance Health by 1,711.9% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 53,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,858,000 after buying an additional 50,603 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in Elevance Health by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 22,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,328,000 after buying an additional 2,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JB Capital LLC boosted its position in Elevance Health by 597.2% in the 4th quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 9,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,462,000 after buying an additional 8,038 shares during the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.