Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.71.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. TheStreet upgraded Elanco Animal Health from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Elanco Animal Health from $12.50 to $14.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

Elanco Animal Health Price Performance

ELAN opened at $13.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.92. Elanco Animal Health has a 12-month low of $7.88 and a 12-month high of $16.88.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a positive return on equity of 6.44% and a negative net margin of 27.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director R David Hoover purchased 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.14 per share, with a total value of $322,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 185,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,985,900. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Elanco Animal Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,510,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,095,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,920,000 after acquiring an additional 3,816,514 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,912,000. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health in the 3rd quarter worth $37,189,000. Finally, Black Creek Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Black Creek Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,523,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,759,556 shares during the period. 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.