Short Interest in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Grows By 23.6%

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,200,000 shares, a growth of 23.6% from the August 31st total of 1,780,000 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 965,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ELV. StockNews.com cut Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $615.00 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $530.00 price objective (down from $646.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $604.29.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

NYSE:ELV traded down $5.27 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $518.68. The stock had a trading volume of 312,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,002,883. Elevance Health has a 12-month low of $431.38 and a 12-month high of $567.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $536.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $530.18. The stock has a market cap of $120.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.82.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $10.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.99 by $0.13. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.89% and a return on equity of 20.64%. The business had revenue of $43.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $9.04 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Elevance Health will post 37.25 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th were paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 24.64%.

Insider Transactions at Elevance Health

In related news, CEO Gail Boudreaux sold 34,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.98, for a total value of $17,033,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,478,674.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Elevance Health news, CEO Gail Boudreaux sold 34,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.98, for a total value of $17,033,320.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,478,674.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 753 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.52, for a total value of $400,234.56. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,647,610.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,058 shares of company stock worth $17,588,116. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ELV. Bell Investment Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 989 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 1,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $647,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. American Trust boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 2.6% in the first quarter. American Trust now owns 775 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 4.6% during the first quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

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.