Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Grows Position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 21.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 49,085 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,729 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $26,597,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,457,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,102,208,000 after acquiring an additional 196,010 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Elevance Health by 3.7% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,498,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,118,000 after purchasing an additional 123,802 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the fourth quarter worth about $1,347,434,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,863,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $878,800,000 after purchasing an additional 110,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,860,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $877,412,000 after buying an additional 11,093 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on ELV shares. Baird R W raised Elevance Health to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $643.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $628.00 to $631.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $530.00 target price (down from $646.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Elevance Health in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $649.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $604.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $506.76, for a total transaction of $154,561.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,721 shares in the company, valued at $4,926,213.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $506.76, for a total transaction of $154,561.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,721 shares in the company, valued at $4,926,213.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gail Boudreaux sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.98, for a total value of $17,033,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,478,674.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,058 shares of company stock valued at $17,588,116 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Shares of ELV traded down $2.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $541.91. The stock had a trading volume of 1,059,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,017,658. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $125.95 billion, a PE ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.84. Elevance Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $431.38 and a fifty-two week high of $567.26. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $533.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $526.48.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $10.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.99 by $0.13. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.89% and a return on equity of 20.64%. The firm had revenue of $43.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 37.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is currently 24.64%.

About Elevance Health

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.