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

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the target of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,780,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the August 15th total of 1,670,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 962,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ELV. Baird R W upgraded shares of Elevance Health to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $600.00 to $593.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $621.00 to $611.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $604.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Elevance Health news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $506.76, for a total value of $154,561.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,721 shares in the company, valued at $4,926,213.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Elevance Health news, CEO Gail Boudreaux sold 34,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.98, for a total value of $17,033,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,709 shares in the company, valued at $63,478,674.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $506.76, for a total transaction of $154,561.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,926,213.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,058 shares of company stock worth $17,588,116. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elevance Health

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Price Performance

Elevance Health stock traded up $1.22 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $540.68. 56,008 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,001,137. The company’s fifty day moving average is $536.03 and its 200-day moving average is $528.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market cap of $125.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.39, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.82. Elevance Health has a 52 week low of $431.38 and a 52 week high of $567.26.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $10.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.99 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $43.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.99 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.89% and a return on equity of 20.64%. Elevance Health’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.04 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 37.25 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.64%.

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.