Highland Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Highland Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 18,584 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $8,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Elevance Health by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Elevance Health by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 3,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 2,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,096,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 2,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $994,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 277 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In related news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $376,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,554,500. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays started coverage on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $584.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $547.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $572.00 to $574.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $569.36.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ELV opened at $519.90 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $500.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $475.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market cap of $120.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.78. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1 year low of $412.00 and a 1 year high of $521.18.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $5.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $42.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.19 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.49% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Elevance Health’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.90%.

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.