Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. Grows Stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. lifted its stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 26.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,596 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Optas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 10.6% during the third quarter. Optas LLC now owns 450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 4.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,647,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the third quarter valued at $259,000. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in Elevance Health by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 2,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ELV shares. Stephens lowered Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $520.00 to $440.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Argus restated a “hold” rating and set a $405.40 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $517.03.

Elevance Health Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ELV opened at $395.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $388.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $437.33. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $362.21 and a 12 month high of $567.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $89.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.83.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.80 by $0.04. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 3.38%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is currently 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.