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

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) saw a large drop in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,820,000 shares, a drop of 9.9% from the November 15th total of 3,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other Elevance Health news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 7,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $432.14, for a total transaction of $3,205,182.38. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,639,915.22. The trade was a 46.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 1.8% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 268,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,522,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,051,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Elevance Health by 8.9% in the second quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in Elevance Health by 2.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 70,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 597 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ELV has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $593.00 to $495.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays reduced their price target on Elevance Health from $622.00 to $501.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $643.00 to $551.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $520.00 target price (down previously from $620.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Argus cut Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $539.20.

Elevance Health Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ELV traded down $7.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $366.25. 2,964,396 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,234,376. Elevance Health has a 12-month low of $363.54 and a 12-month high of $567.26. The stock has a market cap of $84.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $417.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $492.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $8.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.66 by ($1.29). Elevance Health had a return on equity of 19.56% and a net margin of 3.68%. The business 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. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 32.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.77%.

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.