Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy”

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

ELAN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Elanco Animal Health from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Barclays initiated coverage on Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Elanco Animal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.78.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Up 1.0%

ELAN opened at $23.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.66 billion, a PE ratio of 391.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.87. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Elanco Animal Health has a 52 week low of $8.02 and a 52 week high of $23.89.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.06. Elanco Animal Health had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 0.78%.The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. The firm’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. Analysts forecast that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Elanco Animal Health

In other news, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons acquired 22,000 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.75 per share, for a total transaction of $478,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 167,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,632,250. This trade represents a 15.17% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert M. Vanhimbergen bought 6,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $21.64 per share, with a total value of $150,398.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 124,233 shares in the company, valued at $2,688,402.12. This represents a 5.93% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 43,450 shares of company stock worth $937,883. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ELAN. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,543,279 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 1.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,586,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $978,536,000 after purchasing an additional 759,623 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,708,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962,276 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 56.7% in the 3rd 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 boosted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 8,100,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,673,000 after purchasing an additional 820,901 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is currently 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.