e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) Trading Down 5.3% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) fell 5.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $167.00 to $131.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. e.l.f. Beauty traded as low as $88.09 and last traded at $88.53. 987,031 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 1,758,759 shares. The stock had previously closed at $93.44.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ELF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $154.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $220.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded e.l.f. Beauty from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $139.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.35.

Insider Activity at e.l.f. Beauty

In other news, insider Scott Milsten sold 530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.60, for a total value of $72,928.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 68,853 shares in the company, valued at $9,474,172.80. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Maureen C. Watson sold 785 shares of e.l.f. Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $102,050.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $245,440. This represents a 29.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,205 shares of company stock worth $297,442 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 60.6% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,438,000 after buying an additional 2,576 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty during the 2nd quarter worth $1,102,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 41.2% during the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $804,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 14,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in e.l.f. Beauty in the third quarter valued at about $781,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

e.l.f. Beauty Trading Down 1.5 %

The company has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a PE ratio of 47.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $125.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $129.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.34. e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 19.34%. The firm had revenue of $301.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $289.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. will post 2.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About e.l.f. Beauty

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of inclusive, accessible, clean, vegan and cruelty free cosmetics and skin care products. The company focuses on the e-commerce, national retailers and international business channels. Its brands include elf, elf skin, WELL People and KEYS soulcare.