Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)

Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 623 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 24 shares during the quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eli Lilly and Company were worth $482,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LLY. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 87,091.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 12,463,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,041,631,000 after buying an additional 12,448,888 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 92,759.9% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,022,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $905,774,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021,287 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 37,140.7% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 694,167 shares of the company’s stock worth $614,990,000 after acquiring an additional 692,303 shares during the period. Comerica Bank increased its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 71.6% during the second quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,512,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,369,825,000 after acquiring an additional 631,312 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 100.7% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,165,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,032,737,000 after acquiring an additional 584,866 shares during the period. 82.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LLY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Eli Lilly and Company to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,000.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,000.00 to $1,033.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,025.00 to $1,015.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,025.00 to $975.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,002.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Donald A. Zakrowski sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $803.38, for a total value of $723,042.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,402,522.40. This trade represents a 14.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Eli Lilly and Company Stock Performance

Shares of LLY opened at $726.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $689.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.51, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $783.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $856.02. Eli Lilly and Company has a 1 year low of $612.70 and a 1 year high of $972.53.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.34). The company had revenue of $11.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.09 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 71.08% and a net margin of 20.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Eli Lilly and Company will post 13.14 EPS for the current year.

Eli Lilly and Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. This is an increase from Eli Lilly and Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Eli Lilly and Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.22%.

Eli Lilly and Company announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, December 9th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; Jardiance, Mounjaro, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes; and Zepbound for obesity.