Empirical Finance LLC Raises Holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,300 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 973 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $3,800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ELV. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $589.00 to $484.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $605.00 to $555.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $517.03.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Shares of ELV opened at $391.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $385.87 and its 200-day moving average is $453.71. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 12-month low of $362.21 and a 12-month high of $567.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.83.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 34.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.46%.

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.