Short Interest in Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) Drops By 7.2%

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,520,000 shares, a decline of 7.2% from the September 30th total of 12,420,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insider Transactions at Elanco Animal Health

In related news, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons acquired 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,886,450. The trade was a 200.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Elanco Animal Health news, Director Michael J. Harrington purchased 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the director now owns 81,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,204,245.90. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons acquired 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,886,450. This represents a 200.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Elanco Animal Health in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,226,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Elanco Animal Health in the first quarter worth $4,956,000. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health in the 2nd quarter valued at about $839,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Elanco Animal Health by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,139,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,425,000 after acquiring an additional 852,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Twin Tree Management LP lifted its position in Elanco Animal Health by 134.1% in the first quarter. Twin Tree Management LP now owns 310,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,049,000 after purchasing an additional 177,671 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Elanco Animal Health from $22.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Elanco Animal Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Elanco Animal Health has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.00.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

ELAN traded down $0.13 on Thursday, hitting $12.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,818,831 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,762,507. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.75. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Elanco Animal Health has a 12 month low of $8.59 and a 12 month high of $18.80.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter 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. Analysts forecast that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 EPS for the current year.

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.