Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Elevance Health to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Elevance Health from $602.00 to $604.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $649.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target (up previously from $580.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $584.00 to $621.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $601.64.

Elevance Health Price Performance

Shares of ELV opened at $538.97 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $526.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $502.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.83. Elevance Health has a twelve month low of $412.00 and a twelve month high of $550.34.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $10.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.54 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $42.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.49 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.64% and a return on equity of 20.62%. Elevance Health’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.46 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 37.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Felicia F. Norwood sold 14,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.74, for a total value of $7,531,605.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,791,460.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elevance Health

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. abrdn plc boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 86.8% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 278,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,281,000 after purchasing an additional 129,364 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP increased its stake in Elevance Health by 158.1% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 844,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,054,000 after acquiring an additional 517,116 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 52,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,663,000 after acquiring an additional 9,199 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the 4th quarter valued at $218,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 55,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,060,000 after purchasing an additional 4,362 shares in the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.