Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Short Interest Up 24.6% in June

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) saw a significant growth in short interest in 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. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Elevance Health Stock Up 0.3 %

ELV stock traded up $1.37 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $535.92. The stock had a trading volume of 1,035,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,026,488. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $534.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $509.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market capitalization of $124.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84. Elevance Health has a 1-year low of $412.00 and a 1-year high of $550.34.

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

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ELV shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Elevance Health from $557.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $602.00 to $604.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $628.00 to $631.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $611.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Elevance Health

In other news, EVP Felicia F. Norwood sold 14,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.74, for a total transaction of $7,531,605.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,791,460.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,347,434,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 4th quarter worth about $467,141,000. Canoe Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 158.1% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 844,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,054,000 after buying an additional 517,116 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the 4th quarter valued at about $239,244,000. Finally, Focused Investors Fund L P acquired a new stake in Elevance Health during the first quarter worth about $249,884,000. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

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.