The Medibank Private (ASX: MPL) share price has hit a new 52-week high this afternoon.
At the time of writing, the Medibank Private share price is trading hands at $3.21, up 2.23%. The 52-week low was $2.45 on 9 September 2020.
Trading volume was about 40% higher than the 20-day average volume-at-time (AVAT) for the same time of day this morning.
Let's take a look at the Medibank Private share price in closer detail.
The month so far for Medibank Private
Medibank's share price has hit its 52-week high despite there being no company-specific or market-sensitive news today.
Medibank has had a busy month, however, which could explain the rise in share price seen recently. The big item on Medibank's agenda has been the company's premium relief payments policy.
On 29 June, the company announced that it will return approximately $105 million to customers impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic through premium relief payments.
The insurer said the premium relief program would cover approximately 2 million accounts.
Speaking on the program, Medibank chief executive officer David Koczkar said:
Covid-19 restrictions limited how our customers could use their health insurance.
The moves take the company's total Covid-19 support package to $300 million. Medibank Private shares climbed from $3.16 to $3.21 following the announcement.
Medibank Private share price snapshot
The Medibank Private share price has had a bumpy year in 2021 but has jumped into the green by 6.6% since January 1.
Medibank shares are also up around 1.2% over the previous 1 month and remain in the green over the previous 5 trading sessions.
The company's share price has posted a 12-month return of ~6% which has lagged the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)'s return of 21.88% over the same period.
At the current share price, Medibank Private has a market capitalisation of $8.8 billion and trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of around 24.
The company pays a dividend of 12 cents per share, fully-franked, and the dividend yield is 3.77% at the current market price. Medibank also has earnings per share of 13.1 cents from its most recent filing.
