Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) Price Target Raised to $22.00

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) had its target price boosted by Morgan Stanley from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Argus upgraded shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.78.

Elanco Animal Health Price Performance

NYSE:ELAN opened at $22.28 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $21.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.37. Elanco Animal Health has a 12 month low of $8.02 and a 12 month high of $23.70. The firm has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 371.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.06. Elanco Animal Health had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 0.78%.The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Elanco Animal Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.910-0.940 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.090-0.120 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Robert M. Vanhimbergen purchased 6,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $21.64 per share, for a total transaction of $150,398.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 124,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,688,402.12. This represents a 5.93% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Rajeev A. Modi acquired 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $21.33 per share, for a total transaction of $95,985.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 123,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,625,339.06. The trade was a 3.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have acquired 43,450 shares of company stock worth $937,883 over the last quarter. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ELAN. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in Elanco Animal Health by 2,563.5% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 136.7% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 80.3% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 79.3% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 3,018.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 2,807 shares during the period. 97.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Elanco Animal Health

Elanco Animal Health Inc is a global leader in animal health dedicated to improving food and companion animal well-being. The company develops, manufactures and markets a range of products, including parasiticides, vaccines, antibiotics and feed additives designed to prevent and treat disease in livestock and pets. Elanco’s portfolio spans both food-producing animals—such as cattle, swine, poultry and aquaculture—and companion animals, with offerings that support parasite control, pain management and infectious disease prevention.

Originally founded as the animal health division of Eli Lilly and Company in the mid-20th century, Elanco was spun off into an independent publicly traded company in 2018.