Anthem Inc (NASDAQ:ANTM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Leerink Swann in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Analyst Ratings Network.com reports.

In related news, CEO Joseph Swedish sold 11,626 shares of Anthem stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.47, for a total transaction of $1,621,478.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,088,979.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ANTM. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Anthem from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $164.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. FBR & Co. started coverage on Anthem in a report on Thursday, October 15th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. RBC Capital dropped their price objective on Anthem from $224.00 to $198.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Anthem from $175.00 to $171.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Anthem from $175.00 to $155.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Anthem has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $168.47.

Anthem (NASDAQ:ANTM) traded up 3.22% during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $130.49. 2,383,581 shares of the stock traded hands. Anthem has a one year low of $126.25 and a one year high of $173.59. The company has a market cap of $34.07 billion and a P/E ratio of 12.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $137.10 and its 200-day moving average is $142.10.

Anthem (NASDAQ:ANTM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 27th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.06. The business earned $20.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.89 billion. Anthem’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.73 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Anthem will post $10.90 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Several hedge funds and institutional investors recently modified their holdings of the company. National Penn Investors Trust Co. PA increased its position in shares of Anthem by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. National Penn Investors Trust Co. PA now owns 47,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,617,000 after buying an additional 1,068 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Anthem by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 500,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,794,000 after buying an additional 7,872 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Anthem by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 2,486,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,150,000 after buying an additional 493,200 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Anthem during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,552,000. Finally, Regions Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Anthem by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Regions Financial Corp now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $770,000 after buying an additional 664 shares in the last quarter.

Anthem, Inc. is a health benefit company. The Company offers a range of network-based managed care plans to large and small employer, individual, Medicaid and Medicare markets. Its managed care plans include preferred provider organizations (NASDAQ:ANTM), health maintenance organizations (HMOs), point-of-service (POS), plans, traditional indemnity plans and other hybrid plans, including consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs), and hospital only and limited benefit products. In addition, the Company also provides an array of managed care services to self-funded customers, including claims processing, underwriting, stop loss insurance, actuarial services, provider network access, medical cost management, disease management, wellness programs and other administrative services. The Company provides an array of specialty and other insurance products and services, such as dental, vision, life and disability insurance benefits, radiology benefit management and analytics-driven personal health care.

12 Month Chart for NASDAQ:ANTM

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