Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 1,245,631 Shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated $ELAN

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) by 6,055.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,266,202 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,245,631 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Elanco Animal Health were worth $25,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in Elanco Animal Health by 2,563.5% during the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 80.3% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 79.3% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Elanco Animal Health by 184.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 2,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 261.6% in the 2nd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 2,922 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Elanco Animal Health from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Elanco Animal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 19th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.44.

Elanco Animal Health Price Performance

Shares of ELAN opened at $25.25 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $23.16 and its 200 day moving average is $20.65. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated has a 12-month low of $8.02 and a 12-month high of $25.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $12.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 420.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.87.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.06. Elanco Animal Health had a net margin of 0.78% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. Elanco Animal Health’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Elanco Animal Health Incorporated will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Elanco Animal Health

In other Elanco Animal Health news, insider Rajeev A. Modi purchased 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $21.33 per share, with a total value of $95,985.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 123,082 shares in the company, valued at $2,625,339.06. The trade was a 3.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert M. Vanhimbergen purchased 6,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $21.64 per share, with a total value of $150,398.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 124,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,688,402.12. The trade was a 5.93% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought 43,450 shares of company stock valued at $937,883 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Elanco Animal Health 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.