Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-three ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $411.1053.

Several equities analysts have commented on ELV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $397.00 to $411.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $384.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Leerink Partners set a $364.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $408.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $400.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elevance Health

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,998,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,431,322,000 after purchasing an additional 141,747 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,289,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,906,051,000 after purchasing an additional 1,668,679 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Elevance Health by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,446,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,610,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607,274 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Elevance Health by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 5,032,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,764,231,000 after acquiring an additional 455,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Elevance Health by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,022,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,410,219,000 after acquiring an additional 24,271 shares during the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Elevance Health Price Performance

ELV stock opened at $415.88 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Elevance Health has a 12 month low of $273.71 and a 12 month high of $416.56. The firm has a market cap of $90.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $354.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $341.84.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $12.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.74 by $1.84. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 15.58%. The firm had revenue of $49.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.21 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $11.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Elevance Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 19.850- EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Elevance Health will post 26.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

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

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.