Short Interest in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Drops By 13.2%

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 3,669,028 shares, a drop of 13.2% from the February 26th total of 4,227,962 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,161,016 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.2 days. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elevance Health

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at $1,058,165,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Elevance Health by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,289,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,906,051,000 after purchasing an additional 1,668,679 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Elevance Health by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,446,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,610,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,607,274 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 50.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,903,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,368,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 79.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,408,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $844,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,065 shares in the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Elevance Health Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE:ELV opened at $284.64 on Tuesday. 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 fifty-two week low of $273.71 and a fifty-two week high of $458.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $320.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $332.68. The stock has a market cap of $62.82 billion, a PE ratio of 11.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $1.72 dividend. This represents a $6.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.71. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on ELV. Wolfe Research set a $425.00 price objective on Elevance Health and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 8th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $404.00 to $393.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Elevance Health from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $394.00 to $397.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.40.

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.