First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Holdings in e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) by 97.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,404 shares of the company’s stock after selling 124,912 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in e.l.f. Beauty were worth $427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 7,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,055,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 23,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,967,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 2,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other e.l.f. Beauty news, SVP Joshua Allen Franks sold 51,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.36, for a total value of $2,740,196.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 114,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,118,257.60. This represents a 30.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Maureen C. Watson sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.39, for a total transaction of $269,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $127,232.32. The trade was a 67.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 204,618 shares of company stock worth $10,974,536. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ELF shares. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $174.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $74.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $142.00 to $124.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.88.

e.l.f. Beauty Price Performance

e.l.f. Beauty stock opened at $67.07 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a PE ratio of 39.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.17. e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.40 and a 12 month high of $219.77.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 predict that e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

e.l.f. Beauty Profile

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.