Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) Stock Price

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised its price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $103 to $125 but kept an “equal weight” rating, implying about 5% upside from the stock’s quoted price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: MarketBeat reports a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average target of $118.88, though ratings range from Strong Buy to Sell.
• e.l.f. Beauty beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $1.21 versus $0.60 expected and revenue of $520.82 million, up 51.4% year over year.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $103.00 to $125.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley's target price would indicate a potential upside of 5.05% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on ELF. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $121.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $100.00 target price on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $118.88.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE ELF traded down $0.36 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $118.99. 281,418 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,454,603. e.l.f. Beauty has a 12 month low of $48.82 and a 12 month high of $123.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.03, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.61.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $520.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $473.51 million. e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 16.65%. e.l.f. Beauty's revenue was up 51.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that e.l.f. Beauty will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Joshua Franks sold 8,366 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.01, for a total transaction of $920,343.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 126,931 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,963,679.31. This represents a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lauren Levitan sold 1,034 shares of e.l.f. Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.15, for a total value of $96,317.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $979,565.40. This trade represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 91,821 shares of company stock valued at $9,624,513. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in e.l.f. Beauty during the third quarter worth $1,349,000. Banco Santander S.A. boosted its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 149,889 shares of the company's stock worth $15,134,000 after acquiring an additional 11,615 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 18,523 shares of the company's stock worth $1,870,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 13,747 shares of the company's stock worth $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 58.3% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 747 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About e.l.f. Beauty

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc is a beauty company that develops, markets and sells cosmetics and skin-care products. Its portfolio includes e.l.f. Cosmetics and e.l.f. SKIN, as well as brands such as Naturium, Well People and Keys Soulcare. Products include makeup, skin-care treatments and related beauty items.

Founded in 2004, the company sells through its own websites and retail partners, including mass-market and specialty beauty stores. Its products are available in the United States and international markets.

Tarang Amin has served as e.l.f.

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