Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Elastic (NYSE:ESTC) Stock

Elastic (NYSE:ESTC) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 20.29% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on ESTC. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Elastic from $75.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Elastic from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Elastic from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Elastic from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Elastic from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.09.

Elastic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESTC opened at $116.38 on Friday. Elastic has a twelve month low of $69.00 and a twelve month high of $136.06. The company’s 50 day moving average is $106.11 and its 200 day moving average is $95.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $12.06 billion, a PE ratio of 211.61 and a beta of 1.07.

Elastic (NYSE:ESTC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.48). Elastic had a negative return on equity of 13.20% and a net margin of 4.39%. The company had revenue of $382.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $368.85 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Elastic will post -0.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Elastic

In other news, CEO Ashutosh Kulkarni sold 7,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.12, for a total value of $758,678.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 395,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,742,647.12. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 15.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elastic

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Elastic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Elastic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Elastic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Elastic by 793.3% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 268 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Elastic by 126.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. 97.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Elastic

Elastic N.V., a data analytics company, delivers solutions designed to run in public or private clouds in multi-cloud environments. It primarily offers Elastic Stack, a set of software products that ingest and store data from various sources and formats, as well as performs search, analysis, and visualization on that data.