What happened
Storied pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) eked out a win on the stock exchange Monday. The company's share price closed 1.2% higher on the day, edging past the 0.6% rise of the S&P 500 index. Investors were cheered by good news in a hot area of the industry, plus an analyst's price-target hike.
So what
A survey conducted by healthcare insurer Accolade in collaboration with research firm Savanta indicated that the total number of American businesses covering weight-loss drugs is set to nearly double.
According to the results of the 502-respondent survey, 43% of those asked said they would include such medications in the healthcare coverage they provide for employees in 2024. That's quite a jump from the 25% that do so at present.
Even those who are not planning to offer such coverage recognize that such drugs are heavily in demand. Of the poll's respondents, 81% said that their workers are interested in adding them to the list of covered medications.
Eli Lilly developed and markets Mounjaro, a type-2 diabetes treatment that has similar weight-shedding properties as Novo Nordisk's ultra-popular related medicines, Wegovy and Ozempic.
Now what
Separately, Eli Lilly stock got a boost from that price-target lift. Analyst Mohit Bansal of Wells Fargo increased his fair value estimation on the shares to $650 apiece, well up from his previous level of $615. Bansal maintained his overweight (buy, in other words) recommendation on the stock as he did so. His reasoning behind the move wasn't immediately apparent.
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