Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) Stock Price

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) had its target price dropped by Wells Fargo & Company from $412.00 to $403.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.35% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on ELV. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Elevance Health from $445.00 to $420.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Elevance Health in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $343.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Elevance Health from $492.00 to $297.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Mizuho increased their target price on Elevance Health from $342.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs lowered Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.89.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Shares of Elevance Health stock opened at $346.36 on Wednesday. Elevance Health has a 52 week low of $273.71 and a 52 week high of $458.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $326.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $353.99. The firm has a market cap of $76.97 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $1.00. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 2.84%.The business had revenue of $50.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $8.37 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In other Elevance Health news, Director Susan D. Devore acquired 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $312.15 per share, for a total transaction of $374,580.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 3,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,093,149.30. The trade was a 52.13% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,856,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,890,419,000 after acquiring an additional 704,790 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 5,825,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,265,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152,440 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,675,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,429,498,000 after acquiring an additional 324,399 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Elevance Health during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,148,379,000. Finally, Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its stake in Elevance Health by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,849,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,239,276,000 after buying an additional 680,228 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

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.