Lilly Endowment Inc., a more-than-10% owner of Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY), is on a selling spree. This time around, the philanthropic foundation owned by J.K. Lilly, Sr. and his sons (Eli Lilly and J.K. Lilly Jr.), sold LLY shares worth a massive $172.73 million. A corporate insider’s share sale usually signals caution about the company’s future potential. Having said that, an insider could be selling shares for other reasons, such as financial or personal obligations.
Eli Lilly is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Some of the core focus areas of Eli Lilly’s treatments include Alzheimer’s, Pain, Cancer, Immunology, Diabetes, and Obesity. The company has been in the news for the heated competition in the oral weight loss drug category. Year-to-date, LLY shares have zoomed over 50%. Lilly Endowment has been actively selling shares of Eli Lilly since May 2024 in multiple tranches.
A Closer Look at the Insider’s Transactions
As per Form 4 filed with the SEC on June 18, Lilly Endowment undertook multiple sales of 194,978 LLY shares on June 17, at weighted average prices ranging between $882.45 and $892.14 apiece. It is worth noting that even after the latest Informative Sell transactions, Lilly Endowment still owns 97.58 million Lilly shares worth roughly $87 billion.
Eli Lilly stock currently has a Negative Insider Confidence Signal on TipRanks, based on Informative Sell transactions worth $926.8 million undertaken in the last three months.
It is important to keep an eye on the Informative trades of corporate insiders, given their knowledge of a company’s growth potential. Interestingly, TipRanks offers daily insider transactions as well as a list of top corporate insiders. It also provides a list of hot stocks that boast either a Very Positive or Positive insider confidence signal.
Is LLY Stock a Buy?
With 16 Buys versus three Hold ratings, LLY stock has a Strong Buy consensus rating on TipRanks. The average Eli Lilly price target of $878.88 implies 1.4% downside potential from current levels.
