Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,630,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the December 15th total of 3,450,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,940,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ELV. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $478.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $589.00 to $484.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $643.00 to $551.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Elevance Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $536.53.

Elevance Health Price Performance

ELV traded down $1.00 during trading on Monday, reaching $384.26. 2,696,400 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,457,754. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.50. Elevance Health has a 12-month low of $362.21 and a 12-month high of $567.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $388.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $466.18. The company has a market cap of $89.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.01, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.84.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $8.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.66 by ($1.29). Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.68% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The company had revenue of $44.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $8.99 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 32.96 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elevance Health

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 51,967.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 657,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,956,000 after acquiring an additional 656,344 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 309.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 713,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,794,000 after purchasing an additional 538,978 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 85,533.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 532,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,972,000 after purchasing an additional 532,016 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 16.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,397,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,246,574,000 after purchasing an additional 334,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 6.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,461,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,320,024,000 after purchasing an additional 286,905 shares in the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.