Kestra Investment Management LLC Sells 151 Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Kestra Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,214 shares of the company’s stock after selling 151 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,687,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,557,759,000 after acquiring an additional 129,709 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Elevance Health by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,848,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,511,814,000 after purchasing an additional 85,770 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in Elevance Health by 1.0% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,609,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,396,814,000 after purchasing an additional 44,805 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Elevance Health by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,461,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,320,024,000 after purchasing an additional 286,905 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Elevance Health by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,397,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,246,574,000 after purchasing an additional 334,552 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ELV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $643.00 to $551.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target 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. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $517.03.

Elevance Health Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of ELV stock opened at $391.86 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $384.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $445.67. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $362.21 and a 1-year high of $567.26. The company has a market cap of $90.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 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 (NYSE:ELV) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 3.38% and a return on equity of 18.28%. On average, research analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 34 earnings per share 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 dividend on an annualized basis 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 (DPR) is currently 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.