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

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,450,000 shares, a growth of 22.3% from the November 30th total of 2,820,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $593.00 to $495.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $478.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays cut their price objective 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. Finally, Stephens restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $539.20.

Elevance Health Stock Down 0.0 %

Elevance Health stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $368.76. The stock had a trading volume of 567,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,245,212. The company has a market capitalization of $85.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Elevance Health has a one year low of $362.21 and a one year high of $567.26. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $398.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $481.34.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $8.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.66 by ($1.29). Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.68% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The business had revenue of $44.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Elevance Health will post 32.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 23.77%.

Insider Activity

In other Elevance Health news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 7,417 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $432.14, for a total value of $3,205,182.38. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 24.7% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 4,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,187,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its stake in Elevance Health by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in Elevance Health in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $445,000. Legacy Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Elevance Health by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 1,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Elevance Health by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

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.