Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. Decreases Position in Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. lowered its holdings in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 2.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,387,968 shares of the company’s stock after selling 34,538 shares during the period. Elevance Health comprises about 6.7% of Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $406,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Elevance Health by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,289,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,906,051,000 after acquiring an additional 1,668,679 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,446,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,610,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607,274 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 5,032,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,764,231,000 after acquiring an additional 455,946 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,022,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,410,219,000 after purchasing an additional 24,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 50.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,903,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,390 shares in the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ELV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Elevance Health to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $331.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $363.00 to $498.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Elevance Health from $411.00 to $476.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $440.90.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Elevance Health stock opened at $378.17 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $398.39 and a 200-day moving average of $356.51. The company has a market capitalization of $82.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.67. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1 year low of $273.71 and a 1 year high of $436.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The company reported $7.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.21 by $1.24. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $49.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 27.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.72 per share. This represents a $6.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 30.58%.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In related news, Director Robert L. Dixon, Jr. sold 151 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $401.77, for a total value of $60,667.27. Following the sale, the director owned 10,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,312,599.18. The trade was a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.