Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Short Interest Update

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,420,000 shares, an increase of 10.0% from the September 15th total of 2,200,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on ELV. Barclays raised their price objective on Elevance Health from $611.00 to $622.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $643.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $624.00 to $589.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $605.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.52, for a total transaction of $400,234.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,647,610.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 753 shares of the business’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 transaction of $400,234.56. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,647,610.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gail Boudreaux sold 34,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 126,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,478,674.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,058 shares of company stock valued at $17,588,116 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elevance Health

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Centaurus Financial Inc. bought a new position in Elevance Health during the fourth quarter worth $137,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,262,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at about $111,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 109.2% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 739 shares during the period. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Shares of ELV stock traded down $19.29 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $489.73. The company had a trading volume of 1,194,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,022,078. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $531.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $529.09. Elevance Health has a one year low of $435.99 and a one year high of $567.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The company has a market capitalization of $113.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.82.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $10.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.99 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $43.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.99 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.89% and a return on equity of 20.64%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 37.26 earnings per share for the current year.

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.