Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Shares Purchased by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,869,543 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,687 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $689,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $7,926,028,000 after buying an additional 138,380 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,893,947 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Elevance Health by 2.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,686,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,728,722,000 after purchasing an additional 76,896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Elevance Health by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,880,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,559,000 after buying an additional 35,576 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Elevance Health Trading Down 2.4 %

Elevance Health stock opened at $424.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $96.09 billion, a PE ratio of 16.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.77. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $416.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $411.07. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 52 week low of $362.21 and a 52 week high of $567.26.

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

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Elevance Health news, CAO Ronald W. Penczek sold 443 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.13, for a total transaction of $183,902.59. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,745.11. The trade was a 19.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles Morgan Kendrick, Jr. sold 3,504 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $396.30, for a total transaction of $1,388,635.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,008,970.80. The trade was a 25.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ELV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Baird R W downgraded Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $483.00 to $478.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Argus raised shares of Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Elevance Health in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $518.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised Elevance Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $514.41.

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.