Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) Shares Up 1% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) shot up 1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $787.00 and last traded at $779.77. 538,739 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 3,211,798 shares. The stock had previously closed at $772.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on LLY. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $997.00 price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,000.00 to $1,033.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,025.00 to $975.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,050.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded Eli Lilly and Company to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,002.22.

Eli Lilly and Company Stock Up 0.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $734.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $798.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $865.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

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 firm had revenue of $11.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.09 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 71.08% and a net margin of 20.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Eli Lilly and Company will post 13.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eli Lilly and Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is an increase from Eli Lilly and Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Eli Lilly and Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.86%.

Eli Lilly and Company declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, December 9th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Eli Lilly and Company

In other Eli Lilly and Company news, CAO Donald A. Zakrowski sold 900 shares of Eli Lilly and Company stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $803.38, for a total transaction of $723,042.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,402,522.40. The trade was a 14.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of LLY. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 87,091.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 12,463,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,041,631,000 after acquiring an additional 12,448,888 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in Eli Lilly and Company by 92,759.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,022,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $905,774,000 after buying an additional 1,021,287 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 90,438.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 937,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $848,403,000 after buying an additional 936,033 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 37,140.7% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 694,167 shares of the company’s stock worth $614,990,000 after buying an additional 692,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 71.6% in the second quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,512,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,369,825,000 after acquiring an additional 631,312 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.53% of the company’s stock.

Eli Lilly and Company Company Profile

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.