Eli

Florida-based wealth advisory J. L. Bainbridge disclosed a purchase of Eli Lilly and Company valued at approximately $45.6 million for the quarter ended September 30, according to an SEC filing released on Friday.

What Happened

J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. significantly increased its stake in Eli Lilly and Company (LLY -1.94%), acquiring 61,258 additional shares during the quarter. The estimated value of the purchase was $45.6 million based on the average closing price for the quarter. The position was reported in the firm’s quarterly Form 13-F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

What Else to Know

This buy brings the position to 3.9% of J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.’s 13F reportable assets.

Top holdings after the filing:

• NASDAQ:MSFT: $164.85 million (13.9% of AUM)
• NASDAQ:AAPL: $122.68 million (10.4% of AUM)
• NASDAQ:GOOGL: $116.65 million (9.9% of AUM)
• NYSE:GS: $71.43 million (6% of AUM)
• NYSE:ETN: $59.86 million (5.1% of AUM)

As of Friday’s market close, shares of Eli Lilly and Company were priced at $802.83, down 11% over the past year and far underperforming the S&P 500’s nearly 14% gain over the same period.

Company Overview

Company Snapshot

• Eli Lilly offers a broad portfolio of pharmaceuticals for diabetes, oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and other therapeutic areas, with leading products including Humalog, Trulicity, Jardiance, Verzenio, and Taltz.
• The company generates revenue primarily through the discovery, development, manufacturing, and global sale of branded prescription drugs, leveraging both proprietary research and strategic collaborations.
• It provides pharmaceuticals for chronic and complex diseases worldwide.

Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical leader that maintains a diversified portfolio of innovative therapies for high-burden diseases. Its scale, established brands, and strategic partnerships provide competitive advantages in the rapidly evolving healthcare sector.

Foolish Take

Florida-based J.L. Bainbridge & Co. boosted its exposure to Eli Lilly last quarter, purchasing roughly $45.6 million worth of shares even as the stock has endured a difficult stretch. Shares are down 11% over the past year, pressured by valuation concerns and, most recently, political commentary on potential weight-loss drug price cuts. The decline followed remarks by President Donald Trump, who suggested GLP-1 treatments like Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound could face price reductions—a move that briefly sent shares tumbling more than 4% on Friday.

Despite near-term volatility, Bainbridge’s purchase reflects long-term conviction in Lilly’s fundamentals. The pharmaceutical giant remains a dominant player in metabolic and diabetes care, with GLP-1 demand still far outpacing supply. Analysts at BMO Capital Markets called the recent selloff “overdone,” noting that most insured Americans already pay modest out-of-pocket costs for these drugs.

For Bainbridge, whose portfolio is anchored by Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet, the addition of Lilly underscores a strategy centered on durable growth and innovation-led healthcare exposure. Long-term investors may see current weakness as a potential entry point into one of the most profitable franchises in global pharmaceuticals.

Glossary

Form 13-F: A quarterly SEC filing by institutional investment managers disclosing their equity holdings.
AUM (Assets Under Management): The total market value of investments managed on behalf of clients by a fund or firm.
Reportable AUM: Portion of a fund’s assets that must be disclosed in regulatory filings, such as the Form 13-F.
Top holdings: The largest investments in a fund, ranked by their value as a percentage of total assets.
Trailing twelve months (TTM): The 12-month period ending with the most recent quarterly report.
Stake: The ownership interest or position an investor holds in a company, usually measured in shares or percentage.
Strategic collaborations: Partnerships between companies to jointly develop, market, or distribute products or services.
Pharmaceutical portfolio: The collection of drugs and therapies a company develops, manufactures, and sells.
Underperforming: Delivering a lower return or performance compared to a benchmark or peer group.

Eli Lilly (LLY -0.82%) has been one of the best-performing healthcare giants over the past decade. It now stands as the largest in the sector by market cap.

Even with headwinds it has encountered this year, the drugmaker is arguably one of the top stocks in its industry to buy right now. Here’s why.

Image source: Getty Images.

Innovation pays off

It’s hard to find a drugmaker that has proven more innovative than Eli Lilly in recent years. Within its core areas of diabetes and weight management, Lilly launched tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for obesity. Tirzepatide was a significant breakthrough, as the first dual GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) and GIP (gastric inhibitory polypeptide) agonist, a medicine that mimics the action of these two gut hormones.

That’s one of the reasons tirzepatide has proved more effective than traditional GLP-1 drugs, and is racking up sales the likes of which have almost never been seen in the history of the industry. That’s not hyperbole. Most compounds never reach $1 billion in annual sales. Most of those that do, never get to $5 billion, and those that do, typically take years on the market to get there. In its third full year on the market, tirzepatide will generate well over $20 billion this year.

The next chapter

Last year, Eli Lilly earned approval for Kisunla, a medicine indicated to treat Alzheimer’s disease, an area that had long been considered the graveyard of investigational medications. So Lilly’s innovative prowess extends beyond its core markets. And the company is leveraging its success in weight management and obesity to establish a strong foundation for the future.

Thanks to acquisitions and licensing deals, it has significantly expanded its pipeline, which should power clinical and regulatory success over the next few years and strong financial results well into the next decade. That’s why Eli Lilly is one of the top healthcare stocks to buy right now.