Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Increases Holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,991 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $4,275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. H&H Retirement Design & Management INC increased its position in shares of Elevance Health by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. H&H Retirement Design & Management INC now owns 1,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 34.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 2,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $790,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Focused Investors LLC lifted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Focused Investors LLC now owns 514,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,276,000 after buying an additional 9,700 shares during the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 47.2% during the 2nd quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 15,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,971,000 after buying an additional 4,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its position in shares of Elevance Health by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 85,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,325,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. 89.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Elevance Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ELV opened at $358.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $313.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $359.66. Elevance Health, Inc. has a twelve month low of $273.71 and a twelve month high of $510.24.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $8.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.30 by ($0.46). The business had revenue of $49.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.26 billion. Elevance Health had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 2.83%.Elevance Health’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $10.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th were paid a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 10th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ELV shares. Weiss Ratings raised Elevance Health from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on Elevance Health from $373.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Elevance Health from $330.00 to $412.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Elevance Health from $500.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Elevance Health from $435.00 to $425.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $414.63.

Insider Transactions at Elevance Health

In other Elevance Health news, CEO Gail Boudreaux bought 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $286.94 per share, for a total transaction of $2,438,990.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 151,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,333,678.80. The trade was a 5.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan D. Devore bought 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $312.15 per share, for a total transaction of $374,580.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 3,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,093,149.30. The trade was a 52.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.