By Matt Grossman

Anthem Inc. on Wednesday logged higher revenue and profit figures year over year in the first quarter as its enrollment grew.

The Indianapolis-based insurer logged shareholders' net income of $6.71 a share, compared with $5.94 a share in the same three-month period a year earlier. Total shareholders' net income was $1.67 billion, up from $1.52 billion in last year's first quarter.

On an adjusted basis, net income was $7.01 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting adjusted earnings of $6.38 a share

Revenue climbed 9.3% to $32.39 billion, from $29.62 billion in the prior-year period. Analysts were expecting revenue of $32.97 billion.

Revenue from premiums rose 8.5% year over year to $27.68 billion, from $25.52 billion. Membership grew by 3.3% to 43.5 million. Enrollment in plans under Anthem's government-business segment climbed by 1.8 million people year over year, helped by Medicaid growth, while commercial and specialty-business enrollment declined by 411,000.

The benefit-expense ratio was 85.6%, up by 1.4 percentage points year over year as costs associated with Covid-19 grew. The ratio measures the costs of coverage compared with premiums charged.

Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-21-21 0632ET