Stifel Financial Corp Grows Position in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV)

Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV - Free Report) by 309.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 713,027 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 538,978 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.31% of Elevance Health worth $370,794,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Elevance Health during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 89.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ELV. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $605.00 to $555.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $643.00 to $551.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus lowered Elevance Health from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $520.00 price objective (down from $620.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $585.00 to $505.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $539.20.

Elevance Health Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ELV traded down $7.13 during trading on Thursday, hitting $392.98. 1,691,499 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,196,503. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 52 week low of $391.02 and a 52 week high of $567.26. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $439.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $501.50. The company has a market cap of $91.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $8.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $9.66 by ($1.29). The company had revenue of $44.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.47 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.68% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 32.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Elevance Health's payout ratio is currently 23.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 7,417 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $432.14, for a total transaction of $3,205,182.38. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,423 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,639,915.22. This represents a 46.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company's stock.

About Elevance Health

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.