Stifel Nicolaus Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN)

Stifel Nicolaus reiterated their buy rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a $20.00 price target on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on ELAN. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Elanco Animal Health from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $17.29.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

Shares of ELAN opened at $15.07 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.93, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of -5.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.40. Elanco Animal Health has a 12 month low of $8.52 and a 12 month high of $18.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.17.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.06. Elanco Animal Health had a positive return on equity of 7.29% and a negative net margin of 27.94%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Elanco Animal Health in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

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.