T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Acquires 983 Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Elevance Health by 73.5%, now holding 2,321 shares valued at approximately $1,010,000.
• Elevance Health recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.71 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.2%.
• Several analysts have downgraded Elevance Health's stock ratings, with price targets ranging from $297.00 to $428.00, reflecting mixed opinions on the company's performance.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV - Free Report) by 73.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,321 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 983 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $1,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Milestone Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Elevance Health by 2.2% in 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 raised its holdings in Elevance Health by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 6,306 shares of the company's stock worth $2,743,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Elser Financial Planning Inc raised its holdings in Elevance Health by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Elser Financial Planning Inc now owns 882 shares of the company's stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,190,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 230 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ELV shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Elevance Health from $492.00 to $297.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays decreased their target price on Elevance Health from $434.00 to $358.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Wall Street Zen cut Elevance Health from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Leerink Partners reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $310.00 price objective (down from $510.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs cut Elevance Health from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Elevance Health Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:ELV traded up $8.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $318.51. 1,880,611 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,965,240. The stock has a market cap of $71.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.58. Elevance Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $273.71 and a fifty-two week high of $567.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $319.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $376.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.30 by ($0.46). The company had revenue of $49.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Elevance Health's payout ratio is presently 29.11%.

Elevance Health 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.