Anthem Issues FY20 Guidance; Raises Quarterly Dividend By Nearly 19%

(RTTNews) - Anthem, Inc. (ANTM, WLP) announced, for fiscal 2020, the company projects adjusted net income to be greater than $22.30 per share, including approximately $2.30 from the accelerated launch of IngenioRx. Operating revenue is expected to be approximately $117 billion, including premium revenue of $101 billion - $103 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report profit per share of $22.71 on revenue of $115.28 billion. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

For fiscal 2020, medical membership is expected to be in the range of 41.9 - 42.3 million. Fully-insured membership is expected to be in the range of 16.0 - 16.3 million and self-funded membership is expected to be in the range of 25.9 - 26.0 million.

Fourth-quarter adjusted net income per diluted share increased year-on-year to $3.88 from $2.44. Operating revenue was $27.1 billion, an increase of 16.4 percent, from prior year. Medical enrollment totaled 41.0 million members at December 31, 2019, an increase of 1.1 million, or 2.7 percent, from December 31, 2018.

On January 28, the Audit Committee declared a first quarter dividend to shareholders of $0.95 per share, an increase of 18.8 percent from previous quarterly dividend. On an annualized basis, this equates to a dividend of $3.80 per share. The first quarter dividend is payable on March 27, 2020 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 16, 2020.