Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Elanco Animal Health has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 14 brokerages, with an average 12-month price target of about $28.55.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $0.40 on revenue of $1.37 billion, and it raised guidance for Q2 2026 and FY 2026.
• Top executives have been buying shares: CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons and insider Rajeev A. Modi each made notable stock purchases in mid-May, signaling insider confidence.

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.5455.

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Elanco Animal Health from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Elanco Animal Health from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, May 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a report on Tuesday, March 10th.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

NYSE:ELAN opened at $24.21 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock's 50-day moving average is $22.99 and its 200-day moving average is $23.49. Elanco Animal Health has a 1-year low of $13.15 and a 1-year high of $27.72.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a positive return on equity of 7.42% and a negative net margin of 4.95%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. Elanco Animal Health has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.250-0.285 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.030-1.090 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Elanco Animal Health will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Elanco Animal Health

In related news, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons bought 4,971 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.09 per share, for a total transaction of $99,867.39. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 171,971 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,454,897.39. The trade was a 2.98% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Rajeev A. Modi purchased 4,911 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.35 per share, for a total transaction of $99,938.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 160,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,272,524.20. This represents a 3.15% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.14% 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 business. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 136.7% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,882 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 50.7% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,759 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. 97.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Elanco Animal Health

Elanco Animal Health Inc is a global leader in animal health dedicated to improving food and companion animal well-being. The company develops, manufactures and markets a range of products, including parasiticides, vaccines, antibiotics and feed additives designed to prevent and treat disease in livestock and pets. Elanco's portfolio spans both food-producing animals—such as cattle, swine, poultry and aquaculture—and companion animals, with offerings that support parasite control, pain management and infectious disease prevention.

Originally founded as the animal health division of Eli Lilly and Company in the mid-20th century, Elanco was spun off into an independent publicly traded company in 2018.

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