EP Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Elevance Health by 59.4%, totaling 3,508 shares worth approximately $1.53 million.
• Analysts have revised their price targets for Elevance Health, with JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley lowering their targets significantly to $384.00 and $316.00, respectively.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.71 per share, which will be paid on September 25th, representing a 2.2% dividend yield.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV - Free Report) by 59.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,508 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,307 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Elevance Health were worth $1,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Milestone Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 6,306 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,743,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Elser Financial Planning Inc increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Elser Financial Planning Inc now owns 882 shares of the company's stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,190,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 230 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ELV shares. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $447.00 to $360.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $400.00 to $330.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Elevance Health from $500.00 to $440.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Leerink Partnrs cut Elevance Health from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Elevance Health from $472.00 to $384.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $411.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Susan D. Devore purchased 1,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $312.15 per share, for a total transaction of $374,580.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 3,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,093,149.30. The trade was a 52.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gail Boudreaux purchased 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $286.94 per share, with a total value of $2,438,990.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 151,020 shares in the company, valued at $43,333,678.80. This trade represents a 5.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Elevance Health Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:ELV traded down $8.09 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $305.29. 383,056 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,966,156. The firm has a market cap of $68.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.59. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 12-month low of $273.71 and a 12-month high of $559.95. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $308.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $372.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $8.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $9.30 by ($0.46). The company had revenue of $49.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $48.26 billion. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 2.83%.The firm's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $10.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. Elevance Health's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.11%.

Elevance Health Company 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.