Bailard Inc. Acquires 173 Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,740 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $3,178,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. abrdn plc lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 86.8% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 278,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,281,000 after buying an additional 129,364 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 52,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,663,000 after buying an additional 9,199 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the 4th quarter valued at $218,000. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 244.2% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 7,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,314,000 after buying an additional 4,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the 4th quarter valued at $2,235,000. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $602.00 to $604.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price (up from $580.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $584.00 to $621.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $574.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $587.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $376,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,554,500. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

ELV stock traded up $5.69 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $539.42. 684,369 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,059,140. The firm has a market cap of $125.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $510.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $485.44. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $412.00 and a 1-year high of $542.07.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $10.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.54 by $0.10. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.64% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The business had revenue of $42.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 37.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.64%.

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.