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

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,621 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $4,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in Elevance Health during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Elevance Health during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ELV. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective (up previously from $580.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $628.00 to $631.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $584.00 to $621.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Elevance Health from $557.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Elevance Health from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $611.36.

Insider Activity

In other Elevance Health news, EVP Felicia F. Norwood sold 14,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.74, for a total value of $7,531,605.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,791,460.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Price Performance

NYSE:ELV traded up $1.72 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $535.54. 956,112 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,011,789. The company has a market cap of $124.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $534.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $512.43. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.79 and a 52-week high of $550.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $10.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.54 by $0.10. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.64%. The firm had revenue of $42.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 37.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.