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

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF)’s share price rose 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. Approximately 518,477 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 1,279,061 shares. The stock had previously closed at $128.41.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on ELF. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $131.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $240.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America lowered their price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Monday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.60, for a total transaction of $72,928.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 68,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,474,172.80. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Tarang Amin sold 890 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.60, for a total transaction of $122,464.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,718,582.40. The trade was a 0.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,205 shares of company stock worth $297,442 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

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

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 2.1% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in e.l.f. Beauty in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A raised its position in e.l.f. Beauty by 14.4% in the third quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A now owns 1,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its position in e.l.f. Beauty by 1.7% in the third quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 8,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $896,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. 92.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Up 5.2 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $128.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.78.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $301.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $289.43 million. e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 19.34%. e.l.f. Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities 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.