Leerink Partners Upgrades Anthem (NASDAQ:ANTX) to Outperform

Anthem (NASDAQ:ANTX) was upgraded by investment analysts at Leerink Partners from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $9.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partners’ target price points to a potential upside of 108.82% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings started coverage on Anthem in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They set a “sell (d-)” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Anthem from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.00.

Anthem Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ANTX opened at $4.31 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.25 million, a PE ratio of -3.92 and a beta of -0.95. Anthem has a 52 week low of $1.00 and a 52 week high of $6.91.

Anthem (NASDAQ:ANTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.06). As a group, research analysts forecast that Anthem will post -0.91 EPS for the current year.

About Anthem

Anthem, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Commercial & Specialty Business, Government Business, and Other. The company offers a spectrum of network-based managed care health benefit plans to large and small group, individual, Medicaid, and Medicare markets. Its managed care plans include preferred provider organizations; health maintenance organizations; point-of-service plans; traditional indemnity plans and other hybrid plans, such as consumer-driven health plans; and hospital only and limited benefit products.