Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $643.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ELV. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and issued a $600.00 price target (up previously from $580.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Elevance Health from $574.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Elevance Health from $557.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Elevance Health in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set an outperform rating and a $649.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Elevance Health from $585.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $611.36.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Shares of ELV stock opened at $534.12 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $124.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $533.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $507.84. Elevance Health has a 12-month low of $412.00 and a 12-month high of $550.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $10.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.54 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $42.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.49 billion. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.64%. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Elevance Health news, EVP Felicia F. Norwood sold 14,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.74, for a total value of $7,531,605.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,791,460.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new position in Elevance Health in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Elevance Health during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.