Short Interest in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Decreases By 13.2%

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 3,669,028 shares, a decrease of 13.2% from the February 26th total of 4,227,962 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,161,016 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elevance Health

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ELV. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Elevance Health by 331.6% in the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in Elevance Health by 66.7% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 85 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC boosted its stake in Elevance Health by 110.0% during the third quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 84 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Motco increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 334.8% during the third quarter. Motco now owns 100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ELV. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $297.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 8th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $400.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group set a $400.00 target price on Elevance Health in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Elevance Health from $394.00 to $397.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.40.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

NYSE:ELV opened at $298.99 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $317.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $332.32. Elevance Health has a 1-year low of $273.71 and a 1-year high of $458.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.49.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $49.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.52 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.84% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.84 EPS. Elevance Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 25.500- EPS. Analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 33.96 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $1.72 dividend. This is an increase from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.71. This represents a $6.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Elevance Health Company Profile

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.