Insider Buying: Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) CEO Buys $99,867.39 in Stock

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) CEO Jeffrey Simmons purchased 4,971 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $20.09 per share, for a total transaction of $99,867.39. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 171,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,454,897.39. This trade represents a 2.98% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Elanco Animal Health Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Elanco Animal Health stock opened at $21.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of -42.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $23.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.29. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated has a 52-week low of $12.40 and a 52-week high of $27.72.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a negative net margin of 4.95% and a positive return on equity of 7.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter 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. On average, analysts expect that Elanco Animal Health Incorporated will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ELAN. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 16,468,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $331,669,000 after acquiring an additional 5,961,457 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 737.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 5,650,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,214,000 after acquiring an additional 4,975,721 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 35,227,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $797,197,000 after acquiring an additional 3,717,404 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 336.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,789,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,376,000 after acquiring an additional 3,690,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Elanco Animal Health during the 1st quarter worth about $66,390,000. Institutional investors own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ELAN. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.20.

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.