Bluesphere Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)

Bluesphere Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) by 98.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,209 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eli Lilly and Company were worth $705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LLY. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Eli Lilly and Company by 61,268.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,342,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,802,530,000 after purchasing an additional 7,330,815 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $617,312,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company in the 3rd quarter valued at about $435,736,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,575,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,908,273,000 after purchasing an additional 659,838 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 24.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,310,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,778,362,000 after purchasing an additional 645,473 shares in the last quarter. 82.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on LLY. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Eli Lilly and Company from $805.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $675.00 to $895.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $775.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $800.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Eli Lilly and Company from $680.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $728.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 78,573 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $648.07, for a total transaction of $50,920,804.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,333,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,375,262,246.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Eli Lilly and Company Stock Performance

Shares of Eli Lilly and Company stock traded up $1.03 on Monday, hitting $734.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,210,388 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,998,011. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $761.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $667.10. The stock has a market cap of $697.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 126.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Eli Lilly and Company has a 52-week low of $392.26 and a 52-week high of $800.78.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.19. Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 51.22% and a net margin of 15.36%. The firm had revenue of $9.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 28.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Eli Lilly and Company will post 12.51 EPS for the current year.

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.