Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Reduces Stock Holdings in Elevance Health, Inc. $ELV

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. cut its stake in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) by 28.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,019 shares of the company’s stock after selling 818 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Elevance Health were worth $786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Elevance Health by 88.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,588 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 33,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,486,000 after buying an additional 2,901 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 93.9% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,627,000 after buying an additional 7,380 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Elevance Health by 2.2% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 5,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,498,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 7.2% during the first quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ELV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $445.00 to $420.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Elevance Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Leerink Partners reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $310.00 target price (down previously from $510.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Friday, July 18th. Mizuho raised their price target on Elevance Health from $342.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Elevance Health in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $343.00 price objective for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.94.

Elevance Health Stock Performance

Shares of Elevance Health stock opened at $344.88 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $325.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $354.52. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $273.71 and a 12 month high of $458.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $50.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.26 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 2.84% and a return on equity of 16.31%. Elevance Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.37 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Elevance Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.11%.

Insider Transactions at Elevance Health

In related news, Director Susan D. Devore acquired 1,200 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $312.15 per share, with a total value of $374,580.00. Following 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company 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.