Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $31.00 to $33.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Approximately 12,799,155 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 132% from the previous session’s volume of 5,520,875 shares.The stock last traded at $22.8550 and had previously closed at $24.20.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Elanco Animal Health from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings raised Elanco Animal Health from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Elanco Animal Health from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons acquired 4,971 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.09 per share, for a total transaction of $99,867.39. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 171,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,454,897.39. This trade represents a 2.98% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Rajeev A. Modi acquired 4,911 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought 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. This represents a 3.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Elanco Animal Health in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,202,198,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 35,227,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $797,197,000 after purchasing an additional 3,717,404 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 25,082,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,622,000 after purchasing an additional 373,869 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 56.7% in 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 during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,425,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,343,000 after purchasing an additional 640,098 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Elanco Animal Health Trading Down 5.6%

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.41 billion, a PE ratio of -55.63, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $24.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a negative net margin of 3.96% and a positive return on equity of 8.12%. Elanco Animal Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Elanco Animal Health has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.190-0.220 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.100-1.160 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Elanco Animal Health Incorporated will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.