B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Decreases Stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG decreased its holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 47.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,393 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,565 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $7,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 4th quarter valued at $1,135,014,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Elevance Health by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,355,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,947 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 47.6% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,225,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,189,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039,612 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 6,817.8% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 908,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $335,254,000 after purchasing an additional 895,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 309.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 713,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,794,000 after buying an additional 538,978 shares in the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ELV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens cut shares of Elevance Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $520.00 to $440.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.81.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Shares of ELV opened at $435.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.01 billion, a PE ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $405.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $419.64. 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 12-month low of $362.21 and a 12-month high of $567.26.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is 26.71%.

Insider Transactions at Elevance Health

In related news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total transaction of $1,388,635.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,116 shares in the company, valued at $4,008,970.80. This represents a 25.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $766,745.11. This represents a 19.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

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.