Prospera Financial Services Inc Sells 4,112 Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Prospera Financial Services Inc cut its stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 76.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,112 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Elevance Health by 3.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,856,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,890,419,000 after buying an additional 704,790 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 5,825,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,265,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152,440 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 9.7% during the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,675,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,429,498,000 after purchasing an additional 324,399 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Elevance Health in the second quarter worth $1,148,379,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Elevance Health by 4.8% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,440,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,616,000 after purchasing an additional 112,020 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ELV. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $400.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $414.00 to $396.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Elevance Health from $359.00 to $352.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Zacks Research raised Elevance Health from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Elevance Health from $424.00 to $391.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Elevance Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $390.55.

Elevance Health Trading Up 3.1%

Elevance Health stock opened at $346.49 on Tuesday. Elevance Health, Inc. has a one year low of $273.71 and a one year high of $458.75. The business’s fifty day moving average is $352.53 and its 200 day moving average is $332.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.47 billion, a PE ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.50. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $49.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.52 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.84% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.84 EPS. Elevance Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 25.500- EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

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

Elevance Health Profile

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.