Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) Stock Falls 3.5% – Time to Sell?

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) dropped 3.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $1,364.73 and last traded at $1,368.8480. 4,754,317 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 61% from the average daily volume of 2,955,016 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,417.99.

Eli Lilly and Company News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Eli Lilly and Company this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Lilly said new Phase 3 results for investigational retatrutide showed substantial weight and knee-pain reductions in adults with obesity and knee osteoarthritis. Phase 3b data also showed benefits from combining Taltz and Zepbound for people with psoriatic arthritis and obesity. The findings support the potential of its obesity and broader treatment pipeline. Lilly ACR data announcement
• Positive Sentiment: The recent quarterly results beat analyst estimates, with revenue up 38.6% year over year, and Lilly raised its 2026 revenue outlook. This strong performance has helped underpin optimism about continued demand for its medicines. Weight-loss drug growth outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Lilly is presenting updates on its cancer pipeline, including an early-stage imlunestrant study and a completed gastric-cancer study. The reports signal ongoing research, but the supplied details do not establish a material change in clinical prospects. Imlunestrant study update
• Negative Sentiment: Investor commentary highlights rising price competition for Lilly’s GLP-1 franchise. Concerns about lower realized drug prices and the durability of growth could pressure expectations, particularly with the shares trading at a premium valuation. GLP-1 price competition commentary

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on LLY. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Eli Lilly and Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,400.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Argus raised their price target on Eli Lilly and Company from $1,300.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Eli Lilly and Company from $1,273.00 to $1,284.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,500.00 to $1,650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,440.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,404.14.

Eli Lilly and Company Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1,207.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,097.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 44.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.40.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $7.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.71 by $1.77. The business had revenue of $24.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.58 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 86.76% and a net margin of 31.90%. Eli Lilly and Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Eli Lilly and Company will post 35.70 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eli Lilly and Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.73 per share. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. Eli Lilly and Company’s payout ratio is presently 22.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Donald Zakrowski sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,185.01, for a total transaction of $2,370,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,808,325.26. This represents a 56.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Anat Hakim sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,402.52, for a total value of $7,012,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 4,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,802,225.24. The trade was a 54.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,500 shares of company stock valued at $22,970,770. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eli Lilly and Company

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LLY. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Eli Lilly and Company by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 67,540,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,009,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,558 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Eli Lilly and Company by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,215,754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,438,262,000 after purchasing an additional 605,752 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Eli Lilly and Company during the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,522,666,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 1.9% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,209,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,647,153,000 after buying an additional 137,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 7.9% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,461,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,550,587,000 after buying an additional 400,538 shares during the last quarter. 82.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is a global pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets medicines for a range of medical conditions. Its major therapeutic areas include diabetes and obesity, oncology, immunology, neuroscience and cardiovascular health.

The company’s portfolio includes Mounjaro and Trulicity for diabetes, Zepbound for chronic weight management, Humalog insulin, Taltz for inflammatory diseases, Verzenio for certain breast cancers and Kisunla for early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.