Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stake in Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) by 41.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 31,489 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,919 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Elanco Animal Health were worth $463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,868,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,623,000 after buying an additional 65,303 shares during the last quarter. Atom Investors LP boosted its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 310.3% in the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 345,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,081,000 after acquiring an additional 261,559 shares in the last quarter. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health in the second quarter worth $839,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 19.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,007,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,875,000 after acquiring an additional 646,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 14.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 372,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,349,000 after acquiring an additional 45,795 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ELAN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Leerink Partnrs raised Elanco Animal Health to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley downgraded Elanco Animal Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Elanco Animal Health in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.71.

Elanco Animal Health Trading Down 0.6 %

Elanco Animal Health stock opened at $11.98 on Monday. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated has a 12-month low of $11.40 and a 12-month high of $18.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $12.76 and a 200 day moving average of $13.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.01. Elanco Animal Health had a return on equity of 6.78% and a net margin of 4.60%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Elanco Animal Health Incorporated will post 0.92 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.