If you’re hunting for the Anthem Inc stock price on your favorite trading app today, you’ve probably noticed something weird. The ticker ANTM is basically a ghost. It doesn’t move. It hasn’t moved in years. Honestly, if you didn’t get the memo back in 2022, you might think the company just vanished off the face of the Earth.
It didn't. It just grew up and changed its name.
Anthem is now Elevance Health (ELV). The transition wasn't just some marketing gimmick or a mid-life crisis for a corporate giant; it was a fundamental shift in how they wanted Wall Street to view them. Instead of being "just an insurance company," they wanted to be a "health partner."
As of January 16, 2026, the stock—now trading under ELV—is hovering around $375.50. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster lately. We saw a 52-week high of $458.75, but it also dipped as low as $273.71 during some of the Medicaid-related turbulence in late 2025.
Why the Anthem Inc Stock Price Name Change Actually Happened
Most people hate change. Investors especially hate it when it makes their spreadsheets messy. But the shift from Anthem to Elevance (a mashup of "elevate" and "advance") was meant to signal that the company was moving into pharmacy services, behavioral health, and digital care.
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They weren't just collecting premiums anymore. They were trying to own the whole "care journey."
The Carelon Factor
One of the biggest drivers of the stock today isn't even the Blue Cross Blue Shield plans most of us recognize. It’s Carelon. This is their healthcare services brand. It handles everything from pharmacy benefit management (CarelonRx) to complex medical management.
Last year, Carelon’s operating gain grew by roughly 34%. That’s massive. When analysts talk about the ELV price target today, they aren't just looking at how many people signed up for health insurance; they’re looking at how much profit Carelon can squeeze out of every member.
Making Sense of the Current ELV Volatility
You’ve probably seen the headlines. The managed care sector has been through the wringer recently. Between 2024 and early 2026, several factors kept the Anthem Inc stock price (Elevance) from hitting those $500 targets many experts predicted.
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- Medicaid Redeterminations: This was a headache. After the pandemic-era rules ended, millions of people were dropped from Medicaid rolls. This hit Elevance hard because they manage a huge chunk of those state-funded plans.
- Medicare Advantage Pressures: The government has been tightening the screws on how much they pay insurers for Medicare Advantage. This "star rating" drama caused some major swings in the stock price in late 2025.
- The "Best Idea for 2026" Tag: Interestingly, even with these hurdles, firms like TD Cowen recently named Elevance their "Best Idea for 2026." They raised their price target to $400, citing the fact that the company has been more "prudent" with its assumptions than competitors like UnitedHealth or Humana.
Is It Still a Good Value?
Honestly, compared to the rest of the S&P 500, the stock looks somewhat cheap. Its P/E ratio is sitting around 15.6, which is lower than its historical average.
For a company that does nearly $200 billion in annual revenue, that's a bit surprising.
But there’s a catch. Managed care is a "complicated investment landscape," as the analysts put it. You have to deal with regulatory risk every single election cycle. If you’re holding this stock, you’re betting that Gail Boudreaux (the CEO) can keep finding ways to cut costs while expanding those high-margin services under the Carelon umbrella.
Dividend Growth
If you're into dividends, there's some good news. Elevance has been pretty consistent. The current yield is about 1.8%. It’s not a "get rich quick" payout, but they’ve been raising it steadily. In December 2025, they paid out another $1.63 per share. For long-term holders, those quarterly checks are a nice way to ignore the daily price swings.
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What to Watch Next
If you’re still tracking the Anthem Inc stock price under its new identity, the next big catalyst is the Q4 earnings report scheduled for late January 2026.
Investors are specifically looking for:
- Whether the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) stays around the 90% mark.
- If the Medicaid membership decline has finally bottomed out.
- Any updates on share repurchases (they bought back $880 million in shares in early 2025 alone).
Basically, the "Anthem" name is a relic of the past, but the business itself is arguably more complex and powerful than it ever was. Just make sure you're typing ELV into your ticker search, or you'll be looking at stale data from three years ago.
Actionable Insights for Investors:
- Update your watchlists: Stop searching for ANTM; all relevant financial data is now under the ticker ELV.
- Watch the Medicaid cycle: The volatility of the past 18 months was largely driven by state-level contract changes. Monitor upcoming state RFP (Request for Proposal) results to gauge future membership growth.
- Focus on Carelon: Treat Elevance as a two-headed beast. The insurance side (Wellpoint/Blue Cross) provides the cash flow, but the services side (Carelon) provides the growth. If Carelon’s margins slip, the stock will likely follow.
- Set realistic targets: While some analysts see $450 on the horizon, the $400 mark remains a significant psychological and technical resistance level to watch in the first half of 2026.