Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Earns Buy Rating from UBS Group

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at UBS Group in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $484.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $555.00. UBS Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 44.02% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on ELV. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $529.00 target price (down previously from $625.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $518.00 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $455.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Argus set a $465.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $485.87.

Elevance Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ELV opened at $336.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $377.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $397.09. Elevance Health has a 12 month low of $335.17 and a 12 month high of $567.26.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $11.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.60 by $1.37. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 18.61%. The company had revenue of $48.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $46.26 billion. Analysts expect that Elevance Health will post 33.96 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Elevance Health news, CFO Mark Kaye sold 4,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $424.82, for a total value of $1,949,074.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,061,809.14. This trade represents a 19.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elevance Health

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,152,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,635,281,000 after buying an additional 666,534 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Elevance Health by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,618,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,917,004,000 after acquiring an additional 464,137 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Elevance Health by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,355,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,344,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893,947 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Elevance Health by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,963,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,826,447,000 after purchasing an additional 115,971 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,686,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,728,722,000 after purchasing an additional 76,896 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

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.