Elevance Health’s (ELV) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reiterated their buy rating on shares of Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a $518.00 target price on the stock.

ELV has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Elevance Health from $455.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $529.00 price objective (down previously from $625.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Argus raised shares of Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.44.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

NYSE ELV opened at $421.55 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Elevance Health has a twelve month low of $362.21 and a twelve month high of $567.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $420.00 and a 200 day moving average of $408.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.46, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.77.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $11.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.60 by $1.37. The firm had revenue of $48.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $46.26 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.38% and a return on equity of 18.28%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Elevance Health will post 33.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 26.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Mark Kaye sold 4,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $424.82, for a total transaction of $1,949,074.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,061,809.14. This represents a 19.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.13, for a total transaction of $183,902.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,745.11. This represents a 19.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,535 shares of company stock worth $3,521,612 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Elevance Health by 79.0% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 451 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd lifted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 38.9% during the 1st quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 1,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Elevance Health by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 30,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,331,000 after buying an additional 944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in Elevance Health by 1.5% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 45,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,975,000 after acquiring an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.