Short Interest in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Declines By 23.7%

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,480,000 shares, a decrease of 23.7% from the February 13th total of 3,250,000 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,710,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.13, for a total value of $183,902.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,745.11. This trade represents a 19.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total value of $1,388,635.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,116 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,008,970.80. This represents a 25.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the 3rd quarter worth $518,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 192,096 shares of the company's stock valued at $99,890,000 after acquiring an additional 14,502 shares during the period. Seizert Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 104,229 shares of the company's stock worth $54,199,000 after acquiring an additional 21,708 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC raised its holdings in Elevance Health by 21.3% during the third quarter. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC now owns 2,481 shares of the company's stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focused Investors LLC grew its holdings in Elevance Health by 7.2% in the third quarter. Focused Investors LLC now owns 501,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $260,832,000 after purchasing an additional 33,500 shares during the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

NYSE ELV traded down $7.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $427.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,034,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,315,675. The business's fifty day moving average price is $399.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $427.17. Elevance Health has a twelve month low of $362.21 and a twelve month high of $567.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market cap of $97.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.80 by $0.04. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 3.38%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Elevance Health will post 33.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is a positive change from Elevance Health's previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Elevance Health's payout ratio is 26.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ELV. Stephens downgraded shares of Elevance Health from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $520.00 to $440.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Elevance Health from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus raised Elevance Health from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.81.

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.