Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Rating Increased to Buy at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $450.00 target price on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on ELV. Stephens downgraded Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $520.00 to $440.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial decreased 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. StockNews.com cut Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $519.81.

Elevance Health Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of ELV opened at $431.29 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $98.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $396.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $427.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Elevance Health has a 52 week low of $362.21 and a 52 week high of $567.26.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts predict that Elevance Health will post 33.96 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. This is a boost from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total value of $1,388,635.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,008,970.80. The trade was a 25.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.13, for a total value of $183,902.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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