Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $10.63 Million Stock Holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,545 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $10,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ELV. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 2.9% during the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 1,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $912,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the first quarter worth $251,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 0.4% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,305,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 52.1% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 893 shares of the company’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 102.9% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ELV. StockNews.com cut Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Elevance Health from $572.00 to $574.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays assumed coverage on Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $584.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $580.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Elevance Health from $561.00 to $557.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $569.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Elevance Health

In other Elevance Health news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $376,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,554,500. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Price Performance

Elevance Health stock opened at $531.67 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $508.17 and its 200 day moving average is $482.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $123.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.78. Elevance Health, Inc. has a one year low of $412.00 and a one year high of $533.56.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $5.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.60 by $0.02. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 3.49%. The firm had revenue of $42.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 37.03 EPS for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Elevance Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is 25.90%.

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.