Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Purchases New Position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. abrdn plc increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 86.8% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 278,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,281,000 after purchasing an additional 129,364 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 52,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,663,000 after purchasing an additional 9,199 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 158.1% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 844,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,054,000 after purchasing an additional 517,116 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Elevance Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $218,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Elevance Health by 114.8% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 31,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,765,000 after buying an additional 16,737 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ELV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Elevance Health from $574.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $602.00 to $604.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $621.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Baird R W raised Elevance Health to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Elevance Health from $585.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $611.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Elevance Health

In related news, EVP Felicia F. Norwood sold 14,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.74, for a total value of $7,531,605.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,791,460.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Shares of Elevance Health stock traded up $5.69 during trading on Monday, hitting $540.11. 161,968 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,031,636. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $532.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $506.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.83. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $412.00 and a 1-year high of $550.34.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $10.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.54 by $0.10. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.64%. The company had revenue of $42.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 37.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.64%.

About Elevance Health

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.