e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) Shares Up 5.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) shot up 5.2% during trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $154.00 to $163.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. e.l.f. Beauty traded as high as $135.86 and last traded at $135.15. 518,477 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 1,279,061 shares. The stock had previously closed at $128.41.

ELF has been the subject of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $240.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $131.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Truist Financial increased their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised e.l.f. Beauty from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $139.00 to $153.00 in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Scott Milsten sold 530 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.60, for a total value of $72,928.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 68,853 shares in the company, valued at $9,474,172.80. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Maureen C. Watson sold 785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $102,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,888 shares in the company, valued at $245,440. This represents a 29.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,205 shares of company stock valued at $297,442. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ELF. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,305,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,480,000 after purchasing an additional 1,501,151 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty in the 3rd quarter worth $121,558,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in e.l.f. Beauty during the third quarter worth about $76,321,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 84.4% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,259,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,432,000 after acquiring an additional 576,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 223.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 555,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,543,000 after acquiring an additional 383,478 shares in the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

e.l.f. Beauty Trading Up 5.2 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.50.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $301.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $289.43 million. e.l.f. Beauty had a return on equity of 19.34% and a net margin of 8.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current 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.