e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) Shares Down 6.9% on Insider Selling

Shares of e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) dropped 6.9% during trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $70.06 and last traded at $68.95. Approximately 547,761 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 3,094,019 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.04.

Specifically, Director Maureen C. Watson sold 4,000 shares of e.l.f. Beauty stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.39, for a total value of $269,560.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,888 shares in the company, valued at $127,232.32. The trade was a 67.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ELF shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on e.l.f. Beauty in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $133.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $142.00 to $124.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.94.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $94.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.09.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.35). e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 7.55% and a return on equity of 16.88%. On average, analysts expect that e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On e.l.f. Beauty

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 8,009,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,005,584,000 after buying an additional 2,703,742 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in e.l.f. Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $121,558,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty during the third quarter worth about $76,321,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in e.l.f. Beauty by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,305,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,437,000 after acquiring an additional 669,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspex Management HK Ltd purchased a new stake in e.l.f. Beauty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,576,000. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

e.l.f. Beauty Company Profile

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.