Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Elevance Health, Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with an average one-year price target of $411.06.
• The company reported $8.84 EPS in its last quarterly earnings, missing the consensus estimate of $9.30, but saw a year-over-year revenue increase of 14.3%.
• Insider trading activity includes recent purchases by Director Susan D. Devore and CEO Gail Boudreaux, indicating confidence in the company's stock performance.

Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $411.0625.

A number of research analysts have commented on ELV shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Elevance Health from $327.00 to $373.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Elevance Health from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $478.00 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $500.00 to $440.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Leerink Partners reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $310.00 price objective (down previously from $510.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Friday, July 18th.

Elevance Health Stock Down 2.9%

NYSE ELV opened at $316.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $71.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.59. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $302.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $365.52. Elevance Health has a one year low of $273.71 and a one year high of $528.52.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $8.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $9.30 by ($0.46). The firm had revenue of $49.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.26 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $10.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th were paid a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Elevance Health's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Elevance Health

In other Elevance Health news, Director Susan D. Devore purchased 1,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $312.15 per share, for a total transaction of $374,580.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 3,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,093,149.30. The trade was a 52.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gail Boudreaux purchased 8,500 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $286.94 per share, with a total value of $2,438,990.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 151,020 shares in the company, valued at $43,333,678.80. This trade represents a 5.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Elevance Health during the 2nd quarter worth $1,148,379,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the first quarter worth $789,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 81,726.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,474,514 shares of the company's stock worth $641,355,000 after buying an additional 1,472,712 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 24.7% during the second quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 5,825,208 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,265,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the second quarter valued at $293,141,000. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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