Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Shares Bought by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,956 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $1,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ELV. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 34.0% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,062,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,698,000 after purchasing an additional 523,910 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $239,244,000. Focused Investors Fund L P acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the first quarter valued at about $249,884,000. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the first quarter valued at about $203,389,000. Finally, Maj Invest Holding A S acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the second quarter valued at about $173,753,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ELV stock opened at $538.00 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $536.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $528.84. Elevance Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $431.38 and a fifty-two week high of $567.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $125.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.82.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $10.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.99 by $0.13. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.89% and a return on equity of 20.64%. The business had revenue of $43.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 37.25 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gail Boudreaux sold 34,000 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.98, for a total value of $17,033,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 126,709 shares in the company, valued at $63,478,674.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Gail Boudreaux sold 34,000 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.98, for a total value of $17,033,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 126,709 shares in the company, valued at $63,478,674.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 305 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $506.76, for a total transaction of $154,561.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,926,213.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 35,058 shares of company stock worth $17,588,116. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on ELV shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $530.00 price objective (down previously from $646.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $621.00 to $611.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 18th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $624.00 to $589.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $643.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Elevance Health presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $604.29.

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.