Persistent Asset Partners Ltd Invests $2.52 Million in Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 7,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,000. Elevance Health comprises about 1.7% of Persistent Asset Partners Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,998,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,431,322,000 after purchasing an additional 141,747 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 5,825,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,265,773,000 after buying an additional 1,152,440 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Elevance Health by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,675,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,429,498,000 after buying an additional 324,399 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Elevance Health in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,148,379,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 4.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,440,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,616,000 after buying an additional 112,020 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ELV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $404.00 to $393.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Elevance Health from $297.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $394.00 to $397.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $424.00 to $391.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Elevance Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $390.55.

Elevance Health Price Performance

NYSE ELV opened at $348.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $352.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $333.43. Elevance Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $273.71 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm has a market cap of $76.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.50.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its earnings results 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. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Elevance Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 25.500- EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. 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. This represents a $6.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.23%.

Elevance Health Company 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.