Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at TheStreet in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

The analysts wrote, “Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of A . The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, reasonable valuation levels, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.”

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Eli Lilly & Co. in a research note to investors on Tuesday. They now have a $61.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Credit Suisse raised their price target on shares of Eli Lilly & Co. from $65.00 to $68.00 in a research note to investors on Wednesday, February 27th. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, analysts at Jefferies Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Eli Lilly & Co. in a research note to investors on Monday, February 25th. They now have a $43.00 price target on the stock.

Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, two have issued an overweight rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, and three have issued a sell rating to the stock. Eli Lilly & Co. presently has an average rating of “hold” and an average price target of $54.93.

Shares of Eli Lilly & Co. opened at 55.35 on Friday. Eli Lilly & Co. has a 52 week low of $39.16 and a 52 week high of $55.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $53.98. The company has a market cap of $60.533 billion and a P/E ratio of 15.12.

Eli Lilly & Co. last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Eli Lilly & Co. has set its FY13 guidance at $3.82-3.97 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Eli Lilly & Co. will post $3.90 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells products, in one business segment, pharmaceutical products.

To view TheStreet’s full report, visit www.thestreetratings.com

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