Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) Short Interest Down 9.1% in September

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,090,000 shares, a decline of 9.1% from the August 31st total of 13,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,660,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ELAN. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Elanco Animal Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Elanco Animal Health from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Elanco Animal Health presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.43.

Elanco Animal Health Price Performance

Shares of ELAN opened at $14.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.93 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Elanco Animal Health has a 1-year low of $8.52 and a 1-year high of $18.80. The stock has a market cap of $7.25 billion, a PE ratio of -5.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $14.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.06.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a positive return on equity of 7.29% and a negative net margin of 27.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Elanco Animal Health

In other Elanco Animal Health news, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons bought 100,000 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,301,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,886,450. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Michael J. Harrington bought 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $14.85 per share, with a total value of $51,975.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 81,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,204,245.90. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons purchased 100,000 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $13.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,301,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,886,450. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ELAN. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 337.7% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the second quarter worth about $31,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in Elanco Animal Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Elanco Animal Health during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 97.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Elanco Animal Health

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated, an animal health company, innovates, develops, manufactures, and markets products for pets and farm animals. It offers pet health disease prevention products, such as parasiticide and vaccine products that protect pets from worms, fleas, and ticks under the Seresto, Advantage, Advantix, and Advocate brands; pet health therapeutics for pain, osteoarthritis, ear infections, cardiovascular, and dermatology indications in canines and felines under the Galliprant and Claro brands; vaccines, antibiotics, parasiticides, and other products for use in poultry and aquaculture production, as well as nutritional health products, including enzymes, probiotics, and prebiotics; and a range of vaccines, antibiotics, implants, parasiticides, and other products used in ruminant and swine production under the Rumensin and Baytril brands.