Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Short Interest Up 6.7% in October

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,850,000 shares, a growth of 6.7% from the October 15th total of 2,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Elevance Health Price Performance

ELV stock traded down $6.50 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $394.20. The stock had a trading volume of 1,039,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,165,229. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $472.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $512.56. Elevance Health has a 52 week low of $393.63 and a 52 week high of $567.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.85.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $8.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.66 by ($1.29). The business had revenue of $44.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.47 billion. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 19.56% and a net margin of 3.68%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 32.96 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 23.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ELV. Raymond James set a $485.00 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $478.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Argus downgraded Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Elevance Health from $600.00 to $485.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Elevance Health from $643.00 to $551.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Elevance Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $539.20.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In related news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 7,417 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $432.14, for a total value of $3,205,182.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,639,915.22. This represents a 46.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Raelipskie Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new position in Elevance Health during the third quarter worth $27,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Elevance Health in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Elevance Health during the second quarter valued at $30,000. 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.