Equitable Trust Co. Purchases 24,129 Shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN)

Key Points

• Equitable Trust Co. increased its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 19.2%, acquiring an additional 24,129 shares, bringing its total holdings to 149,936 shares valued at approximately $1.57 million.
• Several institutional investors significantly raised their stakes in Elanco, including Allworth Financial LP, which increased its holdings by an astounding 791.7% during the first quarter.
• Analysts have upgraded Elanco Animal Health's stock rating from "hold" to "buy" and "strong buy," with an average price target of $16.17, signaling positive market sentiment towards the company.

Equitable Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN - Free Report) by 19.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 149,936 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 24,129 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.'s holdings in Elanco Animal Health were worth $1,574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 1,153.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,232,327 shares of the company's stock worth $487,213,000 after purchasing an additional 37,022,891 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Elanco Animal Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,424,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in Elanco Animal Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,396,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,900,987 shares of the company's stock valued at $216,774,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 148.8% in the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,741,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,087,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041,308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ELAN. Wall Street Zen upgraded Elanco Animal Health from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. William Blair raised shares of Elanco Animal Health from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Leerink Partners raised shares of Elanco Animal Health from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $18.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $16.17.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE:ELAN traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $14.24. 904,909 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,258,350. The company has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.67. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated has a one year low of $8.02 and a one year high of $15.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $14.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.93.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.06. Elanco Animal Health had a return on equity of 7.54% and a net margin of 8.43%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Elanco Animal Health Incorporated will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Elanco Animal Health Profile

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.