Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV Shares Acquired by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. significantly increased its stake in Elevance Health by 234.3% during Q2, now holding approximately 380,441 shares valued at $147.98 million.
• Analysts have lowered their price targets for Elevance Health, with Morgan Stanley and others adjusting their prices to between $316.00 and $384.00, while maintaining an overall "moderate buy" consensus rating.
• The company reported a miss in earnings per share for the last quarter at $8.84, below the consensus estimate of $9.30, despite revenue exceeding expectations with $49.42 billion.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV - Free Report) by 234.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 380,441 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 266,631 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.17% of Elevance Health worth $147,976,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ELV. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Elevance Health during the first quarter worth about $789,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 81,726.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,474,514 shares of the company's stock worth $641,355,000 after buying an additional 1,472,712 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 31.4% during the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,849,173 shares of the company's stock worth $1,239,276,000 after buying an additional 680,228 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 3.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,152,108 shares of the company's stock worth $9,635,281,000 after buying an additional 666,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 241.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 856,737 shares of the company's stock worth $372,039,000 after buying an additional 605,689 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ELV. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $492.00 to $297.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $400.00 to $330.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $447.00 to $360.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $428.00 to $316.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Elevance Health from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $411.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Elevance Health

In other Elevance Health news, Director Susan D. Devore bought 1,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $312.15 per share, with a total value of $374,580.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 3,502 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,093,149.30. This trade represents a 52.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gail Boudreaux bought 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $286.94 per share, for a total transaction of $2,438,990.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 151,020 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,333,678.80. This trade represents a 5.96% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Elevance Health Stock Down 0.6%

ELV traded down $1.87 during trading on Friday, hitting $313.90. The company had a trading volume of 3,015,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,942,901. The company has a market cap of $70.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50-day moving average of $303.03 and a 200-day moving average of $367.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $273.71 and a 1-year high of $542.22.

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

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. 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.