e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) shares gapped down before the market opened on Monday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $230.00 to $190.00. The stock had previously closed at $122.60, but opened at $119.67. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. e.l.f. Beauty shares last traded at $115.89, with a volume of 461,316 shares trading hands.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on ELF. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $151.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $224.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded e.l.f. Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, e.l.f. Beauty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Tarang Amin sold 15,386 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.85, for a total value of $3,090,278.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 171,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,411,429.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Joshua Allen Franks sold 3,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.28, for a total transaction of $678,313.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 71,986 shares in the company, valued at $14,489,342.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Tarang Amin sold 15,386 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.85, for a total value of $3,090,278.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 171,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,411,429.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,304 shares of company stock worth $3,864,492. 5.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of e.l.f. Beauty

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in e.l.f. Beauty in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in e.l.f. Beauty during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in e.l.f. Beauty during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 405.9% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. 92.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

e.l.f. Beauty Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $171.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.23, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.45.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $324.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $303.60 million. e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 10.80% and a return on equity of 23.30%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current year.

About e.l.f. Beauty

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cosmetic and skin care products under the e.l.f. Cosmetics, e.l.f. Skin, Well People, and Keys Soulcare brand names worldwide. The company offers eye, lip, face, face, paw, and skin care products. It sells its products through national and international retailers and direct-to-consumer channels, which include e-commerce platforms in the United States, and internationally primarily through distributors.