Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Elanco Animal Health Call Options (NYSE:ELAN)

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 21,205 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,048% compared to the typical volume of 1,847 call options.

Elanco Animal Health Price Performance

ELAN stock opened at $14.43 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.43 and a 200-day moving average of $15.68. Elanco Animal Health has a 12-month low of $8.52 and a 12-month high of $18.80. The company has a current ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.45, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.45.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.08. Elanco Animal Health had a negative net margin of 29.83% and a positive return on equity of 5.98%. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ELAN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Monday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Elanco Animal Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

Insider Transactions at Elanco Animal Health

In other Elanco Animal Health news, Director William F. Doyle bought 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $16.98 per share, for a total transaction of $254,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 76,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,296,083.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,046,000. Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new stake in Elanco Animal Health during the 4th quarter valued at $3,857,000. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in Elanco Animal Health during the fourth quarter worth $4,004,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,468,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,083,000 after acquiring an additional 467,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Elanco Animal Health in the third quarter worth $37,189,000. 97.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.