Stephens Inc. AR Buys 156 Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Stephens Inc. AR grew its position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,034 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $7,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Elevance Health by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 903 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,800,000 after purchasing an additional 973 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Elevance Health by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 61,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,825,000 after purchasing an additional 19,907 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Elevance Health by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,670,000 after buying an additional 6,250 shares during the period. Finally, Unison Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Unison Asset Management LLC now owns 25,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,428,000 after buying an additional 1,526 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ELV. UBS Group cut their target price on Elevance Health from $605.00 to $555.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays increased their target price on Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Elevance Health from $585.00 to $478.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Mizuho lowered 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 report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $517.03.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

ELV opened at $391.23 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $90.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.28, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $385.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $453.37. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $362.21 and a 1-year 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.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 34.05 EPS 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 25.46%.

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.