Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,324 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Roundview Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 1,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $912,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the first quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 0.4% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,305,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 52.1% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 893 shares of the company’s stock worth $439,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 102.9% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

ELV stock traded down $0.37 during trading on Thursday, reaching $519.59. The company had a trading volume of 343,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,014,664. The company has a market cap of $120.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.78. Elevance Health, Inc. has a twelve month low of $412.00 and a twelve month high of $521.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $500.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $475.45.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $5.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $42.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.19 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.49% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $572.00 to $574.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com lowered Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Elevance Health from $547.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $584.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $569.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 753 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $376,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,554,500. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Profile

Elevance Health, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Health Benefits, CarelonRx, Carelon Services, and Corporate & Other. It offers a variety of health plans and services to program members; health products; an array of fee-based administrative managed care services; and specialty and other insurance products and services, such as stop loss, dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental health insurance benefits.