Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $16.43.

A number of analysts recently commented on ELAN shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Elanco Animal Health from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Elanco Animal Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Elanco Animal Health to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commerce Bank increased its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 2.2% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 35,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 12,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 1,107 shares in the last quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. now owns 22,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in 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. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 5.9% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 26,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 1,464 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

Shares of ELAN stock opened at $11.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.65 and a 200-day moving average of $13.41. Elanco Animal Health has a one year low of $11.11 and a one year high of $18.80. The company has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.41.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.01. Elanco Animal Health had a net margin of 4.60% and a return on equity of 6.78%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal 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.