Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Increases Position in Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,213 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 790 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $8,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. grew its position in shares of Elevance Health by 5.2% during the second quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 969 shares of the company’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA bought a new position in Elevance Health during the 2nd quarter valued at $235,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Elevance Health by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in Elevance Health by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 99,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,818,000 after acquiring an additional 14,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Elevance Health by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 217,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,512,000 after acquiring an additional 16,296 shares in the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ELV. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $435.00 to $425.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Elevance Health from $492.00 to $297.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Elevance Health from $342.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Elevance Health from $330.00 to $412.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $472.00 to $384.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $412.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gail Boudreaux purchased 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $286.94 per share, for a total transaction of $2,438,990.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 151,020 shares in the company, valued at $43,333,678.80. This trade represents a 5.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan D. Devore bought 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $312.15 per share, with a total value of $374,580.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,093,149.30. This trade represents a 52.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ELV opened at $353.29 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.59. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $273.71 and a 1-year high of $510.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $315.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $358.17.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $8.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.30 by ($0.46). The firm had revenue of $49.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.26 billion. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 2.83%.The firm’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $10.12 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is presently 29.11%.

Elevance Health Company 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.