Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho lowered their price target on Elevance Health from $420.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $384.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Elevance Health from $360.00 to $398.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Elevance Health from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $398.44.

Elevance Health Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE ELV opened at $332.15 on Friday. Elevance Health has a one year low of $273.71 and a one year high of $458.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.56. The company has a market capitalization of $73.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $333.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $335.64.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $50.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.26 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.84% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.37 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 33.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is 27.96%.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ELV. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 74.5% during the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Elevance Health by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Elevance Health during the 1st quarter worth $223,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 79,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 2.1% in the first quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 36,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,886,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.