Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 138,380 Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,485,574 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 138,380 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of Elevance Health worth $7,926,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raelipskie Partnership bought a new stake in Elevance Health during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in Elevance Health by 57.8% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 71 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ELV. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $519.81.

Insider Transactions at Elevance Health

In related news, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.13, for a total value of $183,902.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,745.11. This trade represents a 19.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total transaction of $1,388,635.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,008,970.80. This trade represents a 25.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Elevance Health Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:ELV opened at $427.27 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $97.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 52 week low of $362.21 and a 52 week high of $567.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $400.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.46.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 EPS 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 analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.71%.

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.