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

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Argus raised shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Elanco Animal Health from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Barclays began coverage on Elanco Animal Health in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded Elanco Animal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Elanco Animal Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.78.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

Shares of Elanco Animal Health stock opened at $22.28 on Friday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.34. Elanco Animal Health has a 52 week low of $8.02 and a 52 week high of $23.70. The company has a market capitalization of $11.07 billion, a PE ratio of 371.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.86.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Elanco Animal Health

In related news, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons bought 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.75 per share, for a total transaction of $478,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 167,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,632,250. This represents a 15.17% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawrence Erik Kurzius bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.30 per share, for a total transaction of $213,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 131,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,764.90. This represents a 8.21% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 43,450 shares of company stock worth $937,883. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ELAN. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 3.1% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 51,766,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $739,230,000 after buying an additional 1,543,279 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 1.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,586,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,536,000 after acquiring an additional 759,623 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 8.6% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,708,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962,276 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 56.7% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 16,468,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $331,669,000 after purchasing an additional 5,961,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 8,100,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,673,000 after purchasing an additional 820,901 shares during the last quarter. 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.