Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) reached a new 52-week high on Friday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $435.00 to $460.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Elevance Health traded as high as $416.49 and last traded at $414.9450, with a volume of 376105 shares. The stock had previously closed at $409.44.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on ELV. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Elevance Health from $375.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Elevance Health from $400.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $363.00 to $498.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Elevance Health to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $411.11.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elevance Health

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ELV. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Elevance Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,058,165,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Elevance Health by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,289,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,906,051,000 after acquiring an additional 1,668,679 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Elevance Health by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,446,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,610,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607,274 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in Elevance Health by 145.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,693,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597,497 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Elevance Health by 50.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,903,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306,390 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Stock Up 1.2%

The stock has a market cap of $89.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.63, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $352.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $341.24.

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

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be given a $1.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $6.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is currently 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.