Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Stock Holdings in Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 92,200 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,800 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Elanco Animal Health were worth $1,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,046,000. Phocas Financial Corp. purchased a new stake in Elanco Animal Health in the fourth quarter worth $3,857,000. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Elanco Animal Health in the third quarter worth $37,189,000. UBS Group AG increased its position in Elanco Animal Health by 78.2% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 681,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,665,000 after buying an additional 299,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Elanco Animal Health by 210.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,015,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,412,000 after buying an additional 688,779 shares during the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ELAN. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Elanco Animal Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Barclays raised their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $12.50 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, TheStreet raised Elanco Animal Health from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.71.

Insider Activity at Elanco Animal Health

In other Elanco Animal Health news, Director R David Hoover acquired 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.14 per share, with a total value of $322,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 185,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,985,900. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Elanco Animal Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ELAN opened at $13.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.55 billion, a PE ratio of -5.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.29. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $7.88 and a fifty-two week high of $16.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $15.36 and a 200-day moving average of $13.79.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a negative net margin of 27.87% and a positive return on equity of 6.44%. Elanco Animal Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Elanco Animal Health Incorporated will post 0.91 earnings per share 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.