Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $25.39 and last traded at $24.87, with a volume of 3439993 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $24.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ELAN. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 19th. UBS Group increased their target price 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. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.44.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Up 0.8%

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 stock has a market capitalization of $12.22 billion, a PE ratio of 410.74, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.55.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 0.78% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Elanco Animal Health Incorporated will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Elanco Animal Health

In other news, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons acquired 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.75 per share, with a total value of $478,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 167,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,632,250. The trade was a 15.17% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert M. Vanhimbergen bought 6,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $21.64 per share, with a total value of $150,398.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 124,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,688,402.12. This represents a 5.93% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 43,450 shares of company stock worth $937,883. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Elanco Animal Health

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 434.2% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 126,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 102,686 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,502,000. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 793.7% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 226,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,563,000 after purchasing an additional 201,226 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 364.5% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 98,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,974,000 after buying an additional 76,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new position in shares of Elanco Animal Health in the third quarter worth approximately $1,444,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

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.