Madison Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 62,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,902,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ELV. Raelipskie Partnership bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the third quarter worth about $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 57.8% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 71 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the third quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ELV. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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. Finally, Stephens downgraded Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $520.00 to $440.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $517.03.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

NYSE:ELV opened at $412.13 on Thursday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $393.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $431.42. The company has a market cap of $93.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.09, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. This is an increase from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is currently 26.71%.

Insider Activity

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

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.