Legal & General Group Plc Sells 469,301 Shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,753,406 shares of the company’s stock after selling 469,301 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.76% of Elevance Health worth $646,831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ELV. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,135,014,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Elevance Health by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,355,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,556,000 after buying an additional 1,893,947 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Elevance Health by 47.6% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,225,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,189,828,000 after buying an additional 1,039,612 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 6,817.8% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 908,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $335,254,000 after acquiring an additional 895,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,875,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,060,901,000 after acquiring an additional 437,103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ELV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Elevance Health from $501.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded shares of Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $519.81.

Elevance Health Stock Down 5.3 %

Shares of NYSE ELV opened at $428.62 on Monday. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $362.21 and a 12 month high of $567.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $97.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.74, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $408.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $416.52.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $3.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.80 by $0.04. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 3.38%. As a group, analysts forecast that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is currently 26.71%.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In other news, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.13, for a total value of $183,902.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,847 shares in the company, valued at $766,745.11. The trade was a 19.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total transaction of $1,388,635.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,116 shares in the company, valued at $4,008,970.80. This represents a 25.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Elevance Health 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.