Madison Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 13,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,316,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ELV. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Elevance Health in the second quarter worth $7,344,424,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Elevance Health by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,289,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,906,051,000 after acquiring an additional 1,668,679 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,446,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,610,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607,274 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 5,032,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,764,231,000 after acquiring an additional 455,946 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,022,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,410,219,000 after acquiring an additional 24,271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Elevance Health

In related news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 151 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $401.77, for a total value of $60,667.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,312,599.18. The trade was a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $411.00 to $476.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Elevance Health from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on Elevance Health from $400.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Elevance Health from $439.00 to $424.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $440.90.

Elevance Health Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:ELV opened at $398.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $274.84 and a 1-year high of $436.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $394.87 and a 200 day moving average of $359.27. The firm has a market cap of $86.43 billion, a PE ratio of 17.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.68.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The company reported $7.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.21 by $1.24. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $49.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $8.84 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 27.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.72 per share. This represents a $6.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.58%.

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.