Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $384.5789.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ELV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Elevance Health from $397.00 to $411.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Elevance Health from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Elevance Health from $393.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Elevance Health from $332.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $396.00 to $399.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. purchased a new position in Elevance Health in the fourth quarter worth $5,941,000. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 33.5% in the third quarter. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,584,000 after acquiring an additional 4,336 shares in the last quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 236.7% in the third quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,986,000 after acquiring an additional 4,320 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 31.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 461,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,182,000 after acquiring an additional 109,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,638,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ELV opened at $399.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $86.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $318.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $333.23. Elevance Health has a fifty-two week low of $273.71 and a fifty-two week high of $412.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $12.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.74 by $1.84. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 15.58%. The company had revenue of $49.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $11.97 EPS. Elevance Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Elevance Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 19.850- EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Elevance Health will post 26.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be paid a $1.72 dividend. This represents a $6.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.26%.

About Elevance Health

Elevance Health, Inc (NYSE: ELV) is a large U.S.-based health benefits company that provides a broad range of health insurance products and related services. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the company rebranded from Anthem, Inc to Elevance Health in 2022 while continuing to operate consumer-facing health plans under established state and national brands. Gail Boudreaux serves as chief executive officer and president, leading the company’s strategic focus on integrated health care and benefit delivery.

Elevance’s core activities include offering medical and specialty health plans for individuals, employers and government programs, including Medicare and Medicaid managed-care products.