Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) Hits New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $18.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Elanco Animal Health traded as low as $11.35 and last traded at $11.39, with a volume of 1146654 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $11.80.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Elanco Animal Health to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut Elanco Animal Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Leerink Partners started coverage on Elanco Animal Health in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.43.

Institutional Trading of Elanco Animal Health

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Commerce Bank boosted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 35,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 9.4% in the second quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 12,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107 shares during the period. Keene & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 5.7% during the third quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. now owns 22,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in Elanco Animal Health by 337.7% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,361 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 5.9% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 26,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 1,464 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.54. The company has a market capitalization of $5.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 2.55.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a return on equity of 6.78% and a net margin of 4.60%. Elanco Animal Health’s revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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.