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

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $390.55.

ELV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research set a $425.00 target price on Elevance Health and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Elevance Health from $394.00 to $397.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Elevance Health from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $350.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 8th.

Elevance Health Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE:ELV opened at $342.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.54. Elevance Health has a 1-year low of $273.71 and a 1-year high of $458.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $352.37 and a 200 day moving average of $334.71. The firm has a market cap of $75.69 billion, a PE ratio of 13.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.50.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.23. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.84% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The business had revenue of $49.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.84 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Elevance Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 25.500- EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Elevance Health will post 33.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.72 dividend. This represents a $6.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.71. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 27.23%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elevance Health

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Elevance Health by 331.6% during the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 66.7% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 85 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC grew its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 110.0% during the third quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 84 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 94.9% during the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 76 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Elevance Health

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.