Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.02, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 0.78%. Elanco Animal Health updated its Q1 2026 guidance to 0.330-0.36 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance to 1.000-1.060 EPS.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE:ELAN opened at $24.72 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Elanco Animal Health has a 12-month low of $8.02 and a 12-month high of $26.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 412.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Rajeev A. Modi purchased 4,500 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 123,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,625,339.06. The trade was a 3.79% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons acquired 22,000 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $21.75 per share, for a total transaction of $478,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 167,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,632,250. The trade was a 15.17% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders bought 43,450 shares of company stock worth $937,883. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 25,082,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,622,000 after purchasing an additional 373,869 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 16,468,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $331,669,000 after buying an additional 5,961,457 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,771,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,612,000 after acquiring an additional 799,745 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 336.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,789,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,376,000 after acquiring an additional 3,690,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 104.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,787,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,268,000 after acquiring an additional 2,445,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

Elanco Animal Health News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Elanco Animal Health this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations: adjusted EPS of $0.13 beat consensus $0.11 and revenue of $1.14B topped estimates of $1.09B — signs of operational momentum. View Press Release
• Positive Sentiment: FY‑2026 targets show modest upside vs. street: revenue guidance $4.95B–$5.02B and adjusted EPS $1.00–$1.06 (midpoint roughly in line with consensus), with adjusted EBITDA growth and a raised innovation revenue target of $1.15B — suggests continued product execution and margin improvement. Elanco Press Release
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 2026 guidance of $0.330–$0.36 EPS is essentially in line with the $0.35 consensus but leaves little upside (lower bound below consensus) — near‑term results could be choppy. Guidance Details
• Neutral Sentiment: Street reception includes analyst support (e.g., BofA raised its price target to $28), which may limit downside if execution holds. Analyst Coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary flags strategic bets (dermatology expansion) that could drive growth but add execution risk; watch pipeline updates and launch cadence. Market Commentary
• Negative Sentiment: GAAP results still show reported net losses (Q4 reported net loss $276M; full‑year net loss $232M), and the company continues to rely on adjusted metrics — investors may penalize the stock if GAAP improvement lags. GAAP vs Adjusted Details
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and leverage remain risk factors: the stock trades at a high P/E on adjusted earnings and net leverage (~3.6x) is elevated despite a guidance target to reduce it — leaves sensitivity to execution and interest‑rate/credit sentiment. No external link

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ELAN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Zacks Research cut shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.89.

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.