Brokerages Set Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Target Price at $397.33

Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $397.3333.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ELV. TD Cowen raised their price target on Elevance Health from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on Elevance Health from $435.00 to $425.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Mizuho lowered their price target on Elevance Health from $420.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $384.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elevance Health

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $7,431,322,000 after acquiring an additional 141,747 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Elevance Health by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,621,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,139,473,000 after buying an additional 303,099 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 5,825,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,265,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152,440 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Elevance Health by 24.5% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,576,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,478,857,000 after purchasing an additional 901,626 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 25.0% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,998,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,292,029,000 after acquiring an additional 798,457 shares in the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Elevance Health Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of ELV opened at $330.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.56. The company has a market cap of $73.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $330.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $340.23. Elevance Health has a 52-week low of $273.71 and a 52-week high of $458.75.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $50.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.26 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.84% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $8.37 EPS. Analysts predict that Elevance Health will post 33.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.96%.

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.