Vetr downgraded shares of Anthem Inc (NASDAQ:ANTM) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $153.00 price objective on the stock.

Shares of Anthem (NASDAQ:ANTM) traded down 0.74% during trading on Thursday, hitting $137.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,388,353 shares. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $137.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $142.46. The stock has a market cap of $35.93 billion and a PE ratio of 13.18. Anthem has a one year low of $126.25 and a one year high of $173.59.

Anthem (NASDAQ:ANTM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.40. The business earned $19.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.63 billion. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Anthem will post $10.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Goldman Sachs upgraded Anthem from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $168.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 20th. Leerink Swann restated an outperform rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Anthem in a report on Wednesday, January 13th. Jefferies Group restated a buy rating and set a $176.00 price objective (down from $188.00) on shares of Anthem in a report on Friday, January 8th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Anthem from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Anthem from $175.00 to $155.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $169.84.

In related news, CEO Joseph Swedish sold 11,626 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.47, for a total transaction of $1,621,478.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 194,228 shares in the company, valued at $27,088,979.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

A number of large investors have added to or reduced their stakes in ANTM. Detwiler Fenton Investment Management acquired a new stake in Anthem during the fourth quarter valued at $230,000. Tompkins Financial raised its stake in Anthem by 413.7% in the fourth quarter. Tompkins Financial now owns 2,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 2,060 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company raised its stake in Anthem by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company now owns 2,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $406,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Mizuho Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Anthem by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management raised its stake in Anthem by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management now owns 3,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period.

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

To view Vetr’s full report, visit Vetr’s official website.

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