Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 15,072,733 shares, a decline of 18.1% from the February 12th total of 18,414,142 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,231,386 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 5,231,386 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 100,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,283,000 after acquiring an additional 26,507 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 79.0% in the fourth quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 21,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $523,000 after buying an additional 9,595 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Elanco Animal Health by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 35,227,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $797,197,000 after acquiring an additional 3,717,404 shares in the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. raised its stake in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 21,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 4,876 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 336.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,789,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,376,000 after purchasing an additional 3,690,735 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Elanco Animal Health Stock Performance

Shares of ELAN opened at $25.30 on Wednesday. Elanco Animal Health has a 12-month low of $8.02 and a 12-month high of $27.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $24.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.33. The stock has a market cap of $12.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -52.70, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.83.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.02. Elanco Animal Health had a negative net margin of 4.92% and a positive return on equity of 7.16%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Elanco Animal Health has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.330-0.36 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.000-1.060 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ELAN. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Leerink Partners raised their price objective on Elanco Animal Health from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Elanco Animal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Elanco Animal Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.67.

About Elanco Animal Health

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.