Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New $5.59 Million Investment in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 9,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,588,000. Eli Lilly and Company accounts for approximately 3.4% of Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company in the first quarter valued at approximately $107,000. Roundview Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 2.6% in the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 2,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company in the first quarter valued at approximately $210,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 9.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 53,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company in the first quarter valued at approximately $561,000. 82.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on LLY. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $805.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $850.00 target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. DZ Bank cut shares of Eli Lilly and Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $675.00 to $895.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $815.00 target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $728.05.

Eli Lilly and Company Price Performance

LLY stock traded down $19.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $726.31. The company had a trading volume of 3,486,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,073,465. The company has a market capitalization of $690.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 125.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $763.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $659.59. Eli Lilly and Company has a 1-year low of $369.76 and a 1-year high of $800.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $9.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.95 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 51.22% and a net margin of 15.36%. Eli Lilly and Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Eli Lilly and Company will post 12.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eli Lilly and Company news, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 54,032 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $645.07, for a total transaction of $34,854,422.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 99,488,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,177,109,911.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.13% 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.