Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $302.61, but opened at $317.00. Elevance Health shares last traded at $311.7250, with a volume of 332,246 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on ELV shares. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $413.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Elevance Health from $414.00 to $396.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Elevance Health from $431.00 to $409.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Leerink Partners upped their price target on Elevance Health from $350.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $425.00 price target on Elevance Health and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.40.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company’s 50-day moving average is $313.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $332.30. The company has a market capitalization of $68.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a dividend of $1.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This is an increase from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.71. This represents a $6.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ELV. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 331.6% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management lifted its stake in Elevance Health by 66.7% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 85 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC lifted its stake in Elevance Health by 110.0% in the third quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 84 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Elevance Health in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Motco lifted its stake in Elevance Health by 334.8% in the third quarter. Motco now owns 100 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.