Retirement Systems of Alabama Reduces Holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its stake in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 50,214 shares of the company’s stock after selling 347 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $18,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in Elevance Health by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,687,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,557,759,000 after purchasing an additional 129,709 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,848,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,511,814,000 after buying an additional 85,770 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,609,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,396,814,000 after acquiring an additional 44,805 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Elevance Health by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,461,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,320,024,000 after acquiring an additional 286,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Elevance Health by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,397,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,246,574,000 after acquiring an additional 334,552 shares during the period. 89.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ELV. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Elevance Health from $605.00 to $555.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $405.40 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $589.00 to $484.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Stephens downgraded Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $520.00 to $440.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $517.03.

Elevance Health Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of ELV stock opened at $389.94 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $386.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $454.94. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $362.21 and a 1-year high of $567.26. The company has a market cap of $90.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share (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 research analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 34.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 26.71%.

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.