Wall Street Zen Upgrades Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) to “Strong-Buy”

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on ELAN. Argus upgraded Elanco Animal Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Elanco Animal Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $18.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.78.

Elanco Animal Health Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of ELAN opened at $24.17 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $22.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 402.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.87. Elanco Animal Health has a 1-year low of $8.02 and a 1-year high of $24.98.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a net margin of 0.78% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. 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. Analysts expect that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rajeev A. Modi bought 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.33 per share, for a total transaction of $95,985.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 123,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,625,339.06. This represents a 3.79% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons bought 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.75 per share, for a total transaction of $478,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 167,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,632,250. This trade represents a 15.17% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders acquired a total of 43,450 shares of company stock valued at $937,883 in the last quarter. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 434.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 126,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 102,686 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Elanco Animal Health during the second quarter worth about $12,502,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 1,333.7% during the third quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 168,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,386,000 after buying an additional 156,406 shares during the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 65.5% during the second quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 248,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,543,000 after buying an additional 98,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 239.0% in the 2nd quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 166,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 117,174 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Elanco Animal Health Company Profile

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.