Great Lakes Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,099 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,705 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $6,677,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ELV. Lifeworks Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 1,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 57.8% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 71 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Tobam raised its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Elevance Health by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Elevance Health by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In related news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total transaction of $1,388,635.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,116 shares in the company, valued at $4,008,970.80. The trade was a 25.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.13, for a total value of $183,902.59. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,847 shares in the company, valued at $766,745.11. This represents a 19.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ELV shares. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $405.40 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $517.03.

Elevance Health Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:ELV opened at $417.77 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $394.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $431.33. The company has a market cap of $94.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86. Elevance Health, Inc. has a twelve month low of $362.21 and a twelve 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.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 3.38%. Analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. This is an increase from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 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.