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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Argus raised shares of 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley raised 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. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.78.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Up 0.9%

ELAN stock opened at $22.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Elanco Animal Health has a 1-year low of $8.02 and a 1-year high of $23.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $21.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.41. The firm has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 371.40, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.86.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Research analysts predict that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Lawrence Erik Kurzius acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.30 per share, for a total transaction of $213,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 131,773 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,764.90. This trade represents a 8.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Rajeev A. Modi acquired 4,500 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $21.33 per share, with a total value of $95,985.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 123,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,625,339.06. This trade represents a 3.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. 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 Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 2,563.5% during the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 136.7% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 80.3% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 79.3% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 184.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 2,414 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is currently owned by 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.