Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $409.55, but opened at $425.13. Elevance Health shares last traded at $413.00, with a volume of 271,381 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ELV has been the topic of several research reports. Stephens lowered shares of Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $520.00 to $440.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $405.40 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $517.03.

Elevance Health Trading Up 3.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $391.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $432.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total transaction of $1,388,635.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,008,970.80. This trade represents a 25.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Elevance Health by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,485,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,926,028,000 after acquiring an additional 138,380 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,687,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,557,759,000 after purchasing an additional 129,709 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,618,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,917,004,000 after purchasing an additional 464,137 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,355,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,556,000 after buying an additional 1,893,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Elevance Health by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,963,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,826,447,000 after purchasing an additional 115,971 shares during the period. 89.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.