Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $426.98 and last traded at $404.3340, with a volume of 2506418 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $424.43.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ELV has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup raised Elevance Health to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $363.00 to $498.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Elevance Health from $384.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised Elevance Health from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Elevance Health from $408.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $416.11.

Elevance Health Stock Up 1.1%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $366.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $344.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $87.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.67.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $12.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.74 by $1.84. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 15.58% and a net margin of 2.62%.The company had revenue of $49.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $11.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Elevance Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 19.850- EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 26.93 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $6.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.26%.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In other news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 151 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $401.77, for a total transaction of $60,667.27. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,312,599.18. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ELV. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,058,165,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,289,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,906,051,000 after buying an additional 1,668,679 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,446,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,610,261,000 after buying an additional 1,607,274 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 145.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,693,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,570,000 after buying an additional 1,597,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 50.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,903,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,505,000 after buying an additional 1,306,390 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

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.