Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Sunday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on ELAN. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. 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 research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Barclays began coverage on Elanco Animal Health in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Elanco Animal Health from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.78.

Elanco Animal Health Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE ELAN opened at $24.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 407.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.87. Elanco Animal Health has a 12 month low of $8.02 and a 12 month high of $24.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $22.33 and a 200-day moving average of $19.50.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a net margin of 0.78% and a return on equity of 7.41%. Elanco Animal Health’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Elanco Animal Health

In other Elanco Animal Health news, Director Lawrence Erik Kurzius purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $21.30 per share, with a total value of $213,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 131,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,806,764.90. This represents a 8.21% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Robert M. Vanhimbergen acquired 6,950 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $21.64 per share, with a total value of $150,398.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 124,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,688,402.12. This trade represents a 5.93% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders purchased a total of 43,450 shares of company stock valued at $937,883 over the last three months. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ELAN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new position in Elanco Animal Health during the first quarter worth $2,065,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 2,445,872 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 35.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,121 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 4.5% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,793,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,830,000 after buying an additional 76,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health in the 2nd quarter valued at about $169,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

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.