Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

Key Points

• The National Pension Service increased its holdings in Elevance Health to approximately $231 million by acquiring an additional 37,473 shares, totaling 531,087 shares.
• Elevance Health has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.71 per share, representing a 2.3% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 29.11%.
• Analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Elevance Health, with an average price target of $418.19.

National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV - Free Report) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 531,087 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 37,473 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.24% of Elevance Health worth $231,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ELV. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Elevance Health in the first quarter worth $789,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $641,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,712 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at about $294,751,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $9,635,281,000 after acquiring an additional 666,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,618,062 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,917,004,000 after acquiring an additional 464,137 shares during the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ELV shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $492.00 to $297.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Elevance Health from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $484.00 price target (down previously from $555.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Elevance Health from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.81.

Elevance Health Stock Up 4.5%

Shares of Elevance Health stock traded up $13.43 on Friday, reaching $308.86. The stock had a trading volume of 3,414,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,967,411. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $333.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $382.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1 year low of $273.71 and a 1 year high of $567.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gail Boudreaux acquired 8,500 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $286.94 per share, for a total transaction of $2,438,990.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 151,020 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,333,678.80. The trade was a 5.96% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

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.