Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) Stock Price Up 7.1% – Should You Buy?

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) traded up 7.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $25.06 and last traded at $25.0570. 5,247,905 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 16% from the average session volume of 4,537,661 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on ELAN shares. Piper Sandler raised shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.67.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $12.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.83. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.35.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a negative net margin of 4.92% and a positive return on equity of 7.16%. Elanco Animal Health’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. Elanco Animal Health has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.330-0.36 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.000-1.060 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Elanco Animal Health Incorporated will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 2,563.5% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank lifted its position 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 valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

Elanco Animal Health Company 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.