Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV is Lakewood Capital Management LP’s Largest Position

Lakewood Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 49.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 301,650 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,500 shares during the quarter. Elevance Health accounts for about 7.4% of Lakewood Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Lakewood Capital Management LP’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $97,469,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Elevance Health during the second quarter valued at about $1,148,379,000. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 24.7% in the second quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 5,825,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,265,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152,440 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 24.5% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,576,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,478,857,000 after acquiring an additional 901,626 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 25.0% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,998,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,292,029,000 after acquiring an additional 798,457 shares during the period. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the second quarter valued at approximately $293,141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $332.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Elevance Health from $431.00 to $409.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Elevance Health from $400.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $425.00 price target on Elevance Health and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Twelve equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Elevance Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.40.

Elevance Health Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE ELV opened at $291.69 on Friday. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $273.71 and a 1-year high of $458.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $64.38 billion, a PE ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $338.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $334.11.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $49.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Elevance Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 25.500- EPS. As a group, sell-side 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 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $6.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.71. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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.