e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $62.97, but opened at $66.13. e.l.f. Beauty shares last traded at $66.44, with a volume of 516,912 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ELF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James cut their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $175.00 to $120.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $133.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $142.00 to $124.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $167.00 to $131.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $132.94.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Up 8.7 %

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $92.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.86. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.90.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts forecast that e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. will post 2.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at e.l.f. Beauty

In other news, Director Maureen C. Watson sold 4,000 shares of e.l.f. Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.39, for a total value of $269,560.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $127,232.32. The trade was a 67.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ELF. Entropy Technologies LP grew its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 60.3% in the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 3,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 1,218 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in e.l.f. Beauty by 1,380.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 16,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,775,000 after purchasing an additional 15,184 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in e.l.f. Beauty by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,972,000 after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the period. Finally, Coastline Trust Co lifted its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 97.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 7,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $780,000 after acquiring an additional 3,531 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

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.