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

VELA Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 101.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,074 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the period. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Elevance Health Price Performance

Elevance Health stock opened at $393.42 on Friday. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1 year low of $362.21 and a 1 year high of $567.26. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $387.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $440.60. The company has a market cap of $89.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.36, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.80 by $0.04. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.38% and a return on equity of 18.28%. Sell-side analysts predict that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. This is an increase from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is currently 26.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ELV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $520.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Elevance Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $517.03.

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.