If you are looking to research or buy anthem stock, you might notice something confusing when searching your brokerage account: the classic ticker symbol ANTM is no longer active on the New York Stock Exchange. Instead, you are directed to Elevance Health, Inc. under the ticker symbol ELV. This change is not a sign of bankruptcy, a merger, or a delisting; rather, it is the result of one of the most strategic and successful corporate rebrandings in the modern healthcare industry.
In June 2022, Anthem, Inc. officially changed its corporate name to Elevance Health, Inc. and transitioned its NYSE ticker symbol from ANTM to ELV. The rebranding was designed to emphasize that the company is much more than a traditional health insurance provider. Today, Elevance Health is a fully integrated, tech-enabled healthcare giant that combines classic health benefits with high-margin clinical services, pharmacy benefits management, and advanced digital health tools.
For investors looking to buy anthem stock, analyzing this enterprise today means looking closely under the hood of Elevance Health (NYSE: ELV). In this comprehensive guide, we will break down the strategic reasons behind the name change, analyze the company's spectacular Q1 2026 earnings, explore its core operating segments, weigh the key growth catalysts and headwinds, and evaluate the stock's current valuation to see if it is a buy for your portfolio.
1. The Strategic Rebranding: Why ANTM Became ELV
To understand the value of anthem stock today, it is essential to trace the strategic shift that occurred in June 2022. For decades, Anthem, Inc. operated as one of the largest managed care companies in the United States, primarily utilizing the iconic Blue Cross Blue Shield brand across 14 states. Under the old ANTM ticker, it was viewed as a highly stable, cash-generating dividend stock, but one whose growth was fundamentally tied to the cyclical and heavily regulated health insurance sector.
However, the healthcare landscape has shifted dramatically over the past decade. Companies that simply pay for medical claims (traditional insurance) face constant margin compression and heavy regulatory scrutiny. Meanwhile, health enterprises that integrate care delivery, pharmacy services, and digital health infrastructure are able to capture outsized value. Recognizing this shift, President and CEO Gail K. Boudreaux led the corporate rebranding to Elevance Health.
The name 'Elevance' is a portmanteau of 'elevate' and 'advance,' signaling a mandate to elevate health outcomes and advance clinical solutions beyond traditional insurance. This rebrand restructured the entire corporate hierarchy into two distinct operating engines:
- Health Benefits: This division houses the company's traditional commercial, individual, Medicaid, and Medicare insurance plans. It continues to utilize trusted local brands like Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Wellpoint, and Amerigroup to serve its massive customer base.
- Carelon: This is the high-margin, services-focused brand that integrates the company's pharmacy benefit manager (CarelonRx, formerly IngenioRx), behavioral health services, palliative care, complex care management, and health analytics tools.
By separating the lower-margin insurance risk business from the high-margin, high-growth healthcare services business, Elevance created a powerful corporate flywheel. The health benefits business acts as a massive client acquisition vehicle, feeding millions of members into Carelon's programs. In turn, Carelon's clinical efficiencies keep overall medical claims lower, boosting the profitability of the health benefits segment. As an investor looking at anthem stock, you are no longer just buying an insurer; you are buying an integrated healthcare champion.
2. Elevance Health (ELV) Financial Performance: Q1 2026 Analysis
The ultimate validation of a corporate strategy lies in its financial results. Elevance's performance in early 2026 demonstrates that the transition to an integrated health model is delivering strong results. On April 22, 2026, Elevance Health reported its first-quarter 2026 financial results, delivering a comprehensive beat on both the top and bottom lines.
Top-Line Revenue Resilience
During Q1 2026, Elevance generated operating revenue of $49.5 billion, representing a steady 1.5% year-over-year growth compared to the $48.8 billion recorded in Q1 2025. This growth is impressive when viewed against ongoing industry challenges, including state-level Medicaid eligibility redeterminations and deliberate reductions in underperforming Medicare Advantage markets. The revenue gains were primarily driven by higher premium yields in the Health Benefits segment and robust product revenue growth within CarelonRx, successfully offsetting anticipated risk-based membership declines.
Outstanding Earnings Beat
The major highlight of the quarter was the company's robust profitability. Elevance posted first-quarter diluted EPS of $8.00 on a GAAP basis. On an adjusted basis, diluted EPS came in at a remarkable $12.58, easily surpassing Wall Street's consensus expectation of $10.74. This represents a 5% increase compared to the adjusted EPS of $11.97 in Q1 2025, driven by favorable underlying claims experiences, solid cost-containment measures, and approximately $1.00 per share of non-recurring investment income.
Raised Full-Year 2026 Outlook
Backed by the strong start to the year and increased visibility into claims trends, management raised its full-year 2026 outlook. Elevance now projects full-year adjusted diluted EPS to be at least $26.75, up from its previous guidance. The company also reaffirmed its full-year operating cash flow target of at least $5.5 billion, which includes estimates for the financial impact of ongoing CMS regulatory matters.
This continuous record of earnings beats and upward guidance revisions demonstrates Elevance’s operational excellence. The company's diversified model allows it to navigate macro volatility and rising medical costs much more effectively than many of its pure-play peers.
3. Core Business Segments: Health Benefits vs. Carelon
To appreciate the long-term investment case for what was once anthem stock, we must examine the economics of its two primary operating segments.
The Health Benefits Segment
The Health Benefits division remains the foundational bedrock of Elevance Health, providing medical coverage to approximately 45 million members across the United States. Key subdivisions include:
- Commercial and Specialty Business: Serving employer-sponsored groups and individual plans. This business saw strong growth in fee-based membership and premium yields in early 2026.
- Government Business: Encompassing state Medicaid contracts and federal Medicare Advantage plans. While Medicaid enrollment has contracted across the industry due to post-pandemic eligibility redeterminations, Elevance's Medicare segment showed stabilizing trends in early 2026.
In Q1 2026, the segment’s benefit expense ratio (the percentage of premiums spent on medical claims) was 86.8%, a slight increase of 40 basis points year-over-year. This increase reflects expected elevated medical cost trends within the Medicaid portfolio, which were largely offset by improved performance and premium adjustments in the Medicare Advantage books. Keeping the benefit expense ratio under 87% in a challenging medical cost environment is a testament to Elevance's sophisticated actuarial modeling and risk management.
The Carelon Segment: The Growth Engine
Carelon is the growth engine of the ELV stock thesis, operating in two main areas:
- CarelonRx: Acting as the company's proprietary pharmacy benefits manager (PBM). CarelonRx manages prescription drug networks, home delivery, and specialty pharmacy services, generating high-volume, reliable cash flows.
- Carelon Services: Delivering clinical care, behavioral health therapy, palliative care, and virtual healthcare services.
Carelon specializes in managing high-cost, complex chronic diseases. By utilizing digital platforms and data-driven insights, Carelon Services intervenes early, preventing costly hospital readmissions and improving member health. In FY 2025, Carelon delivered an adjusted operating gain of $3.4 billion, a 10% increase year-over-year. This momentum carried straight into 2026, driven by expansion in risk-based care coordination solutions. Because Carelon offers services to both Elevance’s own insurance members and external third-party payers, its total addressable market (TAM) is far larger than that of a traditional insurer.
4. Key Growth Catalysts and Market Headwinds
Investing in Elevance Health requires a balanced view of the opportunities and risks that will shape the company's trajectory through the late 2020s.
Major Catalysts for ELV Stock
- Unrivaled Shareholder Capital Return: Elevance is a premier capital allocator. In Q1 2026 alone, the company returned $1.5 billion of capital to its shareholders, consisting of $1.1 billion in share buybacks and $400 million in dividends. The company regularly raises its dividend, which currently sits at $1.72 per share quarterly, translating to a reliable yield of approximately 1.8%.
- AI and Operational Automation: CEO Gail Boudreaux has consistently emphasized the role of artificial intelligence in driving operational margins. By implementing advanced AI models, Elevance has successfully automated prior authorization workflows, reduced administrative denials, and streamlined billing. This has lowered the company's operating expense ratio by 20 basis points year-over-year to 10.5% in Q1 2026.
- Diversified Healthcare Integration: The continuous expansion of Carelon allows Elevance to capture multiple profit margins along the healthcare value chain. Whether a patient needs a physical checkup, behavioral therapy, or a specialty drug prescription, Elevance's integrated structure keeps the spend within its corporate ecosystem.
Key Market Headwinds
- Medicaid Redeterminations: Following the end of the federal public health emergency, states have been verifying Medicaid eligibility, leading to millions of Americans losing coverage. While some of these individuals transition to Elevance's individual Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans, the net decline in Medicaid membership remains a short-term drag on enrollment volume.
- Regulatory and CMS Policy Changes: The managed care industry is perpetually exposed to political and regulatory risk. Changes to Medicare Advantage risk adjustment models and CMS rate hikes can compress insurance margins. Elevance’s guidance for 2026 proactively builds in estimates for potential CMS-related rate adjustments, demonstrating that management is prepared, but regulatory scrutiny remains a permanent fixture of the sector.
- Elevated Medical Cost Trends: Inflation in healthcare costs and hospital utilization.
5. Valuation and Stock Analysis: Is ELV a Buy Today?
With the stock trading around $395 per share in late May 2026, investors are asking: Is Elevance Health a buy, hold, or sell?
Valuation Multiples
At its current price of approximately $395, Elevance trades at a trailing twelve-month (TTM) price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of roughly 16.6x. When evaluating the stock against its freshly upgraded full-year 2026 adjusted EPS guidance of at least $26.75, ELV's forward P/E drops to a highly attractive 14.7x. This represents a meaningful discount to the company’s five-year median historical P/E of 18.3x, and a massive discount compared to the broader S&P 500, which trades near 22x.
Wall Street Consensus and Price Targets
Wall Street analysts remain overwhelmingly bullish on Elevance Health. On May 22, 2026, UBS maintained its 'Buy' rating on the stock and raised its price target to $460, representing a 15% increase and significant upside from current levels. The broader consensus of over 20 analysts points to a 'Strong Buy' rating, with median price targets hovering around $396 but many top-tier firms forecasting a climb into the mid-$450s as claims experiences continue to normalize and Carelon's growth outpaces expectations.
Margin of Safety and Intrinsic Value
According to GuruFocus's proprietary calculation, Elevance Health's GF Value stands at $509.72. Trading at $395, the stock is valued at more than a 22% discount to its calculated intrinsic value. This provides investors with a substantial margin of safety. When you couple this valuation gap with a steady 1.8% dividend yield and an aggressive share repurchase program that naturally pushes EPS higher, the risk-reward ratio for long-term investors is heavily tilted to the upside.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About Anthem Stock
What is the current stock symbol for Anthem?
Anthem, Inc. rebranded to Elevance Health, Inc. in June 2022. Consequently, its NYSE ticker symbol changed from ANTM to ELV. If you want to buy or track Anthem stock today, you must search for the ticker symbol ELV.
What happened to my old ANTM stock shares?
If you owned shares of Anthem (ANTM) prior to the June 2022 rebranding, your shares automatically converted to Elevance Health (ELV) on a 1-for-1 basis. You did not need to take any action, and your cost basis remained exactly the same.
Does Elevance Health (former Anthem) pay a dividend?
Yes. Elevance Health has a strong history of dividend growth. In early 2026, the board declared a quarterly dividend of $1.72 per share, which equates to an annualized payout of $6.88 per share. The stock currently yields approximately 1.8%.
Who is the CEO of Elevance Health?
Elevance Health is led by President and CEO Gail K. Boudreaux. Under her leadership, the company has consistently exceeded earnings expectations, executed its massive rebranding strategy, and integrated advanced AI solutions to optimize care delivery and operations.
What brands are managed under Elevance Health?
Elevance Health operates its insurance plans under well-known regional brands including Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Wellpoint, and Amerigroup. Its clinical and pharmacy services are consolidated under the Carelon brand, which includes CarelonRx and Carelon Services.
Conclusion
The search for anthem stock leads investors to one of the most resilient, forward-thinking giants in the healthcare sector: Elevance Health (NYSE: ELV). By successfully shifting its corporate identity from a traditional insurer to a comprehensive whole-person health partner, the company has unlocked substantial, high-margin revenue streams through its Carelon services and CarelonRx divisions.
Elevance’s spectacular Q1 2026 earnings beat, upgraded full-year guidance of at least $26.75 in adjusted EPS, aggressive share buybacks, and robust dividend growth underscore its financial strength. Trading at an appealing forward P/E of just 14.7x and representing a 22% discount to its estimated GF Value, Elevance Health stands out as a highly attractive, defensive value play for long-term investors. If you are looking to gain exposure to a high-quality, tech-enabled healthcare champion, buying ELV stock today is an exceptionally smart move.
