Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 640,098 Shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated $ELAN

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management increased its Elanco Animal Health stake by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, buying 640,098 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 9.43 million shares worth about $213.3 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted or initiated positions in ELAN, and the stock is now about 97.48% owned by institutions.
• Elanco beat quarterly expectations, reporting adjusted EPS of $0.40 versus $0.34 expected and revenue of $1.37 billion versus $1.28 billion expected, while analysts currently rate the stock a “Moderate Buy” with a consensus target price of $28.20.

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN - Free Report) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,425,533 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 640,098 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 1.90% of Elanco Animal Health worth $213,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ELAN. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 56.7% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 16,468,148 shares of the company's stock valued at $331,669,000 after buying an additional 5,961,457 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the fourth quarter valued at about $55,693,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 104.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,787,394 shares of the company's stock worth $50,268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,445,872 shares during the last quarter. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health in the third quarter worth about $47,626,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 8.6% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,708,676 shares of the company's stock worth $497,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962,276 shares during the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Elanco Animal Health

In other news, insider Rajeev A. Modi acquired 4,911 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.35 per share, with a total value of $99,938.85. Following the transaction, the insider owned 160,812 shares in the company, valued at $3,272,524.20. The trade was a 3.15% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons acquired 4,971 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $20.09 per share, for a total transaction of $99,867.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 171,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,454,897.39. This represents a 2.98% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 1.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp raised their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Citigroup raised their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Elanco Animal Health from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, May 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Elanco Animal Health from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $28.20.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

Elanco Animal Health stock opened at $23.65 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $22.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 2.16. The stock has a market cap of $11.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.30, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.69. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $13.14 and a fifty-two week high of $27.72.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.06. The business 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 revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. 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. As a group, analysts expect that Elanco Animal Health Incorporated will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Elanco Animal Health Profile

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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