Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 0.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,881 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Elevance Health were worth $6,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ELV. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,485,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,926,028,000 after acquiring an additional 138,380 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,618,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,917,004,000 after purchasing an additional 464,137 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 42.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,893,947 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,963,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,826,447,000 after purchasing an additional 115,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,686,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,728,722,000 after purchasing an additional 76,896 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ELV. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $478.00 price objective on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 price target on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $455.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $498.87.

Elevance Health Stock Down 0.6%

Elevance Health stock opened at $373.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.60. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $357.45 and a 1-year high of $567.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $398.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $399.11.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $11.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.60 by $1.37. The company had revenue of $48.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $46.26 billion. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 18.61% and a net margin of 3.23%. On average, analysts predict that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. Elevance Health’s payout ratio is presently 26.69%.

Insider Activity at Elevance Health

In other news, CFO Mark Kaye sold 4,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $424.82, for a total transaction of $1,949,074.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,977 shares in the company, valued at $8,061,809.14. The trade was a 19.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Elevance Health Company 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.