Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) Releases Q1 2026 Earnings Guidance

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) updated its first quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 0.330-0.36 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 0.350. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.3 billion-$1.3 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.3 billion. Elanco Animal Health also updated its FY 2026 guidance to 1.000-1.060 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ELAN. Argus raised Elanco Animal Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Elanco Animal Health from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Leerink Partners increased their price objective on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $30.00 in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.67.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of Elanco Animal Health stock opened at $26.82 on Thursday. Elanco Animal Health has a twelve month low of $8.02 and a twelve month high of $27.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50 day moving average is $24.07 and its 200 day moving average is $21.66. The company has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -55.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.87.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a negative net margin of 4.92% and a positive return on equity of 7.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. Elanco Animal Health has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.330-0.36 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.000-1.060 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Elanco Animal Health

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

Elanco Animal Health News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and upgraded FY‑2026 targets — Elanco reported Q4 revenue of $1.14B and adjusted EPS of $0.13 (above estimates), raised its FY‑2026 innovation revenue target to $1.15B and gave full‑year guidance for ~4%–6% organic growth and higher adjusted EBITDA/adjusted EPS targets. PR Newswire
• Positive Sentiment: Product launches driving innovation revenue — Management says all “Big 6” products are in market with Befrena approved in Q4, supporting the raised innovation revenue target and longer‑term growth thesis. MSN article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullishness — KeyCorp and Leerink raised price targets (to $29 and $30 respectively) and maintained positive ratings, signaling dealer confidence in beat‑and‑raise execution. StreetInsider
• Positive Sentiment: Short interest fell sharply — Short interest dropped ~20.7% in February to ~18.4M shares (≈3.7% of float), lowering potential short‑squeeze risk and reducing downward pressure. (Days‑to‑cover ≈4.0 days).
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO visibility — Jeff Simmons appeared on CNBC with Jim Cramer, raising public visibility for the turnaround narrative; useful for sentiment but not a direct earnings lever. CNBC interview
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings materials available — Call transcript and slides were published for investors to dig into segment trends and product cadence. Seeking Alpha transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Margin pressure flagged — Some coverage notes margins and cost trends prompted investor concern and caused shares to slip intra‑day despite the beat. That creates risk if GM/EBITDA margins remain under pressure. Investing.com
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed analyst view / limited near‑term upside — Morgan Stanley raised its target to $24 but kept an “equal weight” stance, implying limited upside (their PT sits below current levels), highlighting divergent analyst views on valuation. Benzinga
• Negative Sentiment: Q1 guidance slightly cautious — Q1 EPS guidance of $0.33–$0.36 is roughly in line but slightly below some consensus points, so near‑term beat risk is lower than for FY. (Company guidance details in the PR release above.)

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 72,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,631,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 11,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Elanco Animal Health by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 52,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,196,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is 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.