ANTM Anthem Inc

By Dave Sebastian

Anthem Inc.'s profit fell in the second quarter while overall revenue rose.

The Indianapolis-based insurer on Wednesday posted net income attributable to shareholders of $1.79 billion, compared with $2.28 billion in the prior year. Earnings were $7.25 a share, compared with $8.91 a share in the year-ago period.

Adjusted earnings were $7.03 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $6.34 a share.

Revenue rose nearly 16% to $33.85 billion. Analysts were looking for $33.13 billion.

Revenue from premiums rose about 14% to $28.53 billion.

The benefit-expense ratio was 86.8%, up 8.9 percentage points over the prior-year quarter and up 7.5 points after adjusting for the repeal of the health insurance tax in 2021, the company said. The ratio rose because of an increase in non-Covid and Covid-related healthcare costs, the company added. The metric measures the costs of coverage compared with premiums charged.

Medical enrollment totaled about 44.3 million members on June 30, the company said, up 4.4% from the year-ago quarter.

Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 21, 2021 06:39 ET (10:39 GMT)

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