Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN)

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 13,430 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 515% compared to the average daily volume of 2,185 call options.

Insider Activity at Elanco Animal Health

In other news, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons acquired 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.01 per share, with a total value of $1,301,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,886,450. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Jeffrey N. Simmons bought 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $13.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,301,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,886,450. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael J. Harrington purchased 3,500 shares of Elanco Animal Health stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $14.85 per share, for a total transaction of $51,975.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 81,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,204,245.90. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elanco Animal Health

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Elanco Animal Health during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,226,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Elanco Animal Health by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,468,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,083,000 after purchasing an additional 467,196 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in shares of Elanco Animal Health in the fourth quarter worth $4,004,000. Wolf Hill Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Elanco Animal Health during the 4th quarter valued at $20,683,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Elanco Animal Health during the 1st quarter valued at $4,956,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Elanco Animal Health in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Elanco Animal Health from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Elanco Animal Health from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.29.

Elanco Animal Health Trading Down 6.6 %

Elanco Animal Health stock opened at $14.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.93. Elanco Animal Health has a fifty-two week low of $8.52 and a fifty-two week high of $18.80. The stock has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.31, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $13.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.17.

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Elanco Animal Health had a positive return on equity of 7.29% and a negative net margin of 27.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Elanco Animal Health will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.