Analysts adjusted their ratings on Eli Lilly and Co (LLY), Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd (ADR) (TEVA), and Genworth Financial Inc (GNW)
Analysts are weighing in today on drugmakers Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY) and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA), as well as wealth management firm Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW). Here's a quick look at today's brokerage notes on LLY, TEVA, and GNW.
- Cowen and Company this morning raised its price target on LLY by $7 to $85 while keeping its "outperform" rating, prior to news that the firm and partner Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) will resume late-stage testing for their chronic pain drug tanezumab. Today, the shares of LLY are up 1.5% to hit $77.25 -- and earlier touched a nearly 12-year high of $77.46 -- for a roughly 12% gain year-to-date. Despite Eli Lilly and Co's positive price action so far this year, the brokerage bunch is divided on the equity, as 60% of covering analysts have doled out lukewarm "hold" ratings. Additionally, LLY's consensus 12-month price target of $75.18 sits below current trading levels, leaving the door wide open for a round of bullish analyst attention to provide tailwinds.
- Following news that TEVA's migraine drug TEV-48125 has achieved main and secondary goals in a mid-stage study, BMO raised its price target on the equity by $3 to $64. Looking back, Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd has been trending upwards, with the shares up 9.3% year-to-date to reach $62.87, while touching a four-year high of $63.04 earlier today. In the options pits, short-term calls are more prominent than usual, per TEVA's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.40, which sits in the 4th percentile of all equivalent readings taken over the past year.
- Raymond James upgraded its opinion on GNW to "strong buy" from "outperform," sending the shares up 4.9% today to linger near $7.74. "We believe there are a number of avenues open to the company to recognize value, including a breakup of the company," the brokerage firm noted. The upgrade is somewhat surprising, given that the shares have fallen 56.8% year-over-year. Accordingly, puts have been popular in the options pits, as Genworth Financial Inc's 10-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) put/call volume ratio of 0.90 ranks higher than 77% of all equivalent readings taken over the past year.