Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 22,998,645 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 141,747 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Elevance Health worth $7,431,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,148,379,000. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in Elevance Health by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 5,825,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,265,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152,440 shares during the last quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the second quarter valued at $293,141,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Elevance Health by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,076,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $807,741,000 after buying an additional 487,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baupost Group LLC MA grew its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 150.4% in the second quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 616,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,599,000 after acquiring an additional 370,000 shares during the period. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Elevance Health stock opened at $346.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $352.53 and its 200 day moving average is $332.74. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $273.71 and a 1-year high of $458.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $3.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.23. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 15.59% and a net margin of 2.84%.The firm had revenue of $49.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.52 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.84 earnings per share. Elevance Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 25.500- EPS. Research analysts forecast that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.72 per share. This represents a $6.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on ELV. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Elevance Health from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $358.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Elevance Health from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Elevance Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Elevance Health from $394.00 to $397.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Elevance Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $390.55.

About Elevance Health

Elevance Health, Inc (NYSE: ELV) is a large U.S.-based health benefits company that provides a broad range of health insurance products and related services. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the company rebranded from Anthem, Inc to Elevance Health in 2022 while continuing to operate consumer-facing health plans under established state and national brands. Gail Boudreaux serves as chief executive officer and president, leading the company’s strategic focus on integrated health care and benefit delivery.

Elevance’s core activities include offering medical and specialty health plans for individuals, employers and government programs, including Medicare and Medicaid managed-care products.