Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Announces Dividend Increase – $1.71 Per Share

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of 1.71 per share on Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63.

Elevance Health has raised its dividend payment by an average of 13.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Elevance Health has a dividend payout ratio of 16.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Elevance Health to earn $34.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.9%.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

NYSE ELV opened at $390.21 on Thursday. Elevance Health has a 1 year low of $362.21 and a 1 year high of $567.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market cap of $90.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $386.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $463.64.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted 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 net margin of 3.68% and a return on equity of 19.56%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Elevance Health will post 32.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on ELV shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $478.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $589.00 to $484.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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. Argus downgraded shares of Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $524.87.

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.