Harfst & Associates Inc. Sells 3,981 Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Harfst & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 81.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 913 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,981 shares during the period. Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,551,000 after buying an additional 3,049 shares during the period. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 39,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,360,000 after buying an additional 3,786 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 1,711.9% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 53,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,858,000 after buying an additional 50,603 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 22,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,328,000 after buying an additional 2,725 shares during the period. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on ELV shares. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $405.40 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $517.03.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Elevance Health stock opened at $386.22 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $386.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $440.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market cap of $87.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.83. Elevance Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $362.21 and a fifty-two week high of $567.26.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.80 by $0.04. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.38% and a return on equity of 18.28%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.71%.

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.