Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Short Interest Down 19.8% in January

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,910,000 shares, a decrease of 19.8% from the December 31st total of 3,630,000 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,920,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raelipskie Partnership acquired a new position in Elevance Health in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in Elevance Health by 57.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 71 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the third quarter worth about $44,000. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ELV. Barclays upped their target price on Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $478.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $643.00 to $551.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $520.00 to $440.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $517.03.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

ELV opened at $395.82 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $386.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $458.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $91.80 billion, a PE ratio of 15.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84. Elevance Health has a fifty-two week low of $362.21 and a fifty-two week high of $567.26.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.80 by $0.04. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.38% and a return on equity of 18.28%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Elevance Health will post 34.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. This is an increase from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 25.46%.

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.