$33.30 Billion in Sales Expected for Anthem, Inc. (NYSE:ANTM) This Quarter

April 8th, 2021 - Comments Off - Filed Under - by Latisha Jones

Equities analysts forecast that Anthem, Inc. (NYSE:ANTM) will announce sales of $33.30 billion for the current quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Four analysts have made estimates for Anthem’s earnings, with estimates ranging from $32.58 billion to $34.53 billion. Anthem posted sales of $29.45 billion in the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year over year growth rate of 13.1%. The company is expected to report its next earnings results before the market opens on Wednesday, April 21st.

On average, analysts expect that Anthem will report full year sales of $135.90 billion for the current financial year, with estimates ranging from $135.01 billion to $138.90 billion. For the next year, analysts expect that the firm will post sales of $147.77 billion, with estimates ranging from $144.94 billion to $154.81 billion. Zacks’ sales averages are a mean average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that follow Anthem.

Anthem (NYSE:ANTM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 26th. The company reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.02. Anthem had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The business had revenue of $31.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.88 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ANTM shares. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Anthem from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 18th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Anthem from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 13th. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Anthem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $379.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, March 25th. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price objective on shares of Anthem from $389.00 to $382.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 28th. Finally, Truist raised shares of Anthem from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $360.00 to $375.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Anthem has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $359.81.

In other news, Director Ryan M. Schneider bought 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $296.03 per share, with a total value of $503,251.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,921 shares in the company, valued at $864,703.63. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Peter D. Haytaian sold 59,500 shares of Anthem stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.20, for a total transaction of $20,777,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,792,764.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in Anthem by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,733,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,804,091,000 after acquiring an additional 244,712 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in Anthem by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 3,450,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,190,490,000 after acquiring an additional 381,247 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Anthem by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,784,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $893,986,000 after acquiring an additional 14,556 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Anthem in the 4th quarter valued at $866,682,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Anthem by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,526,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $811,237,000 after acquiring an additional 541,603 shares during the period. 89.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NYSE:ANTM opened at $352.19 on Thursday. Anthem has a fifty-two week low of $226.41 and a fifty-two week high of $379.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.59. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $334.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $311.87.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 9th. Anthem’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.25%.

About Anthem

Anthem, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. It operates through four segments: Commercial & Specialty Business, Government Business, IngenioRx, and Other. The company offers a spectrum of network-based managed care health benefit plans to large and small groups, individuals, Medicaid, and Medicare markets.