Analyst Update: Eli Lilly, Teva Pharma, and Genworth

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.