Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Short Interest Up 6.6% in August

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,780,000 shares, an increase of 6.6% from the August 15th total of 1,670,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 962,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ELV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $615.00 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Elevance Health from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Elevance Health from $600.00 to $593.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $604.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Elevance Health

In other Elevance Health news, CEO Gail Boudreaux sold 34,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.98, for a total transaction of $17,033,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,709 shares in the company, valued at $63,478,674.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Elevance Health news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.52, for a total value of $400,234.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,647,610.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gail Boudreaux sold 34,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.98, for a total transaction of $17,033,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,478,674.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,058 shares of company stock worth $17,588,116 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

NYSE ELV traded down $10.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $543.25. 792,230 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,007,257. Elevance Health has a 12-month low of $431.38 and a 12-month high of $567.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $535.65 and a 200 day moving average of $528.39. The company has a market cap of $126.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $10.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.99 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $43.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.99 billion. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 20.64% and a net margin of 3.89%. Elevance Health’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $9.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 37.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 24.64%.

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.