Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Cuts Stock Position in Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Key Points

• Massachusetts Financial Services Co. cut its stake in Elevance Health by 3.3%, selling 79,772 shares and now owns 2,360,858 shares (about 1.06% of the company) valued at roughly $827.6 million.
• Several large institutions (Vanguard, Wellington, Artisan, First Eagle, Invesco) increased their positions and institutional ownership is about 89.24%, while analysts' consensus is an average "Hold" rating with a $385.38 target price.
• Elevance beat quarterly EPS estimates ($3.33 vs. $3.10), reported 9.6% revenue growth, raised its quarterly dividend to $1.72 (annualized $6.88, yield ~2.2%), and trades near $311 with a market cap of ~$68.4 billion.

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV - Free Report) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,360,858 shares of the company's stock after selling 79,772 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 1.06% of Elevance Health worth $827,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Elevance Health by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,998,645 shares of the company's stock worth $7,431,322,000 after purchasing an additional 141,747 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Elevance Health by 4.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,621,297 shares of the company's stock worth $2,139,473,000 after purchasing an additional 303,099 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Elevance Health by 24.5% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,576,805 shares of the company's stock worth $1,478,857,000 after purchasing an additional 901,626 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Elevance Health by 25.0% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,998,603 shares of the company's stock worth $1,292,029,000 after purchasing an additional 798,457 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Elevance Health by 22.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,597,488 shares of the company's stock worth $839,300,000 after purchasing an additional 484,303 shares during the period. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ELV. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $332.00 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Elevance Health from $413.00 to $350.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Wolfe Research set a $425.00 price objective on Elevance Health and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Elevance Health from $404.00 to $393.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Evercore started coverage on Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "hold" rating and a $345.00 price objective for the company. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $385.38.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Shares of Elevance Health stock opened at $311.54 on Friday. Elevance Health, Inc. has a one year low of $273.71 and a one year high of $443.29. The company has a market cap of $68.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.54. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $311.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $332.03.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $3.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $49.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.52 billion. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 15.59% and a net margin of 2.84%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.84 earnings per share. Elevance Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 25.500- EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $1.72 dividend. This represents a $6.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is a positive change from Elevance Health's previous quarterly dividend of $1.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. Elevance Health's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Elevance Health Profile

Elevance Health, Inc NYSE: ELV is a large U.S.-based health benefits company that provides a broad range of health insurance products and related services. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the company rebranded from Anthem, Inc to Elevance Health in 2022 while continuing to operate consumer-facing health plans under established state and national brands. Gail Boudreaux serves as chief executive officer and president, leading the company's strategic focus on integrated health care and benefit delivery.

Elevance's core activities include offering medical and specialty health plans for individuals, employers and government programs, including Medicare and Medicaid managed-care products.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.