Elanco Animal Health Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:ELAN)

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 13,430 call options on the company. This is an increase of 515% compared to the typical volume of 2,185 call options.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

NYSE:ELAN traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $15.14. The company had a trading volume of 9,523,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,753,858. The firm has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a PE ratio of -5.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.40. Elanco Animal Health has a 1-year low of $8.52 and a 1-year high of $18.80. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $13.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.93 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a negative net margin of 27.94% and a positive return on equity of 7.29%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Elanco Animal Health

In other Elanco Animal Health news, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons acquired 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $13.01 per share, with a total value of $1,301,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,886,450. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Michael J. Harrington acquired 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $14.85 per share, with a total value of $51,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 81,094 shares in the company, valued at $1,204,245.90. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons bought 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $13.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,301,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,886,450. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Elanco Animal Health

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 50,600,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $753,945,000 after buying an additional 1,431,665 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,468,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $737,083,000 after acquiring an additional 467,196 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 4.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,139,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,425,000 after purchasing an additional 852,281 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 1.4% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 10,641,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,239,000 after purchasing an additional 143,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC raised its stake in Elanco Animal Health by 61.2% in the 2nd quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 8,336,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,298,000 after purchasing an additional 3,164,350 shares during the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ELAN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Elanco Animal Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.29.

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.