Short Interest in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Expands By 24.6%

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,280,000 shares, a growth of 24.6% from the May 31st total of 1,830,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,020,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Elevance Health news, EVP Felicia F. Norwood sold 14,111 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 31,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,791,460.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,347,434,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in Elevance Health in the fourth quarter worth $467,141,000. Canoe Financial LP boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 158.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at $239,244,000. Finally, Focused Investors Fund L P purchased a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 1st quarter worth about $249,884,000. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ELV shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on Elevance Health in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $649.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Elevance Health in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $643.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Elevance Health to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Elevance Health has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $611.36.

Elevance Health Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ELV traded up $1.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $535.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,035,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,026,487. The stock has a market cap of $124.56 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84. Elevance Health has a one year low of $412.00 and a one year high of $550.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $534.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $509.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $10.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.54 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $42.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.49 billion. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.64%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.46 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Elevance Health will post 37.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.64%.

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.