Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dunhill Financial LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Tobam increased 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 purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Elevance Health by 3.2% during 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 last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Elevance Health by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in Elevance Health by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:ELV opened at $421.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $95.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $395.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $429.65. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 12-month low of $362.21 and a 12-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 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. This is an increase from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 26.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Elevance Health news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total transaction of $1,388,635.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,008,970.80. The trade was a 25.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of Elevance Health 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $766,745.11. This trade 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 company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on ELV. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stephens cut Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $520.00 to $440.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays raised 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. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating and set a $405.40 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Elevance Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $517.03.

Elevance Health Company 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.