Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 88.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,279 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,237 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $833,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,049 shares during the last quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 10.7% during the third quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 39,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,786 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 85,533.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 532,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,972,000 after purchasing an additional 532,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 1,711.9% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 53,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,858,000 after purchasing an additional 50,603 shares during the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ELV. UBS Group lowered their target price on Elevance Health from $605.00 to $555.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Elevance Health from $585.00 to $478.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $517.03.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

ELV opened at $389.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $362.21 and a 1-year high of $567.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $386.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $454.94.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its quarterly 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%. Research analysts predict that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 34.07 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. This is a boost from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.71%.

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.