Morgan Stanley Increases Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) Price Target to $26.00

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $23.00 to $26.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 4.93% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on ELAN. Wall Street Zen cut Elanco Animal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 24th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Elanco Animal Health from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered Elanco Animal Health from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Elanco Animal Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.73.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

NYSE ELAN opened at $24.78 on Wednesday. Elanco Animal Health has a 1 year low of $13.39 and a 1 year high of $27.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.38 billion, a PE ratio of -49.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.68. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.97.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a negative net margin of 4.95% and a positive return on equity of 7.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. Elanco Animal Health has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.250-0.285 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.030-1.090 EPS. Analysts predict that Elanco Animal Health will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Rajeev A. Modi bought 4,911 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.35 per share, with a total value of $99,938.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 160,812 shares in the company, valued at $3,272,524.20. The trade was a 3.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons purchased 4,971 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.09 per share, for a total transaction of $99,867.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 171,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,454,897.39. This represents a 2.98% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in Elanco Animal Health by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 165,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,068,000 after buying an additional 12,800 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC boosted its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 0.3% in the second quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 128,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,164,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. MRA Advisory Group bought a new position in Elanco Animal Health during the second quarter valued at approximately $776,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Elanco Animal Health by 5.3% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 77,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,846,000 after acquiring an additional 3,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Defilade Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 132.0% during the first quarter. Defilade Capital Management L.P. now owns 931,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,282,000 after acquiring an additional 529,838 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.