Wall Street Zen Upgrades e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) to Buy

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded e.l.f. Beauty to “buy” from “hold.” Analysts overall have a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $112.06.
• e.l.f. Beauty’s latest quarterly results surpassed expectations, with earnings of $1.75 per share versus the $0.71 consensus estimate and revenue of $479.37 million, up 35.5% year over year.
• The stock opened at $111.78, near its 52-week high of $124.99, while insiders sold approximately $10.7 million worth of shares over the past quarter.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

ELF has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $118.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $116.00 price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $100.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.06.

e.l.f. Beauty Trading Down 1.0%

ELF opened at $111.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 1.82. e.l.f. Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $48.82 and a fifty-two week high of $124.99. The company's 50 day moving average price is $105.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.83, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.61.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $1.04. e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 3.38% and a return on equity of 14.07%. The company had revenue of $479.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $431.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. e.l.f. Beauty's revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. e.l.f. Beauty has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.500-3.550 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that e.l.f. Beauty will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other e.l.f. Beauty news, insider Mandy Fields sold 16,065 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.52, for a total transaction of $1,679,113.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 90,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,500,449.92. This trade represents a 15.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lauren Levitan sold 1,034 shares of e.l.f. Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.15, for a total value of $96,317.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold 103,994 shares of company stock valued at $10,695,981 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On e.l.f. Beauty

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 64.5% in the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 334 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in e.l.f. Beauty in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 86.5% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 513 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 378.5% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 713 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.44% of the company's stock.

e.l.f. Beauty Company Profile

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc is a cosmetics and skincare company that develops, markets and sells beauty products under a portfolio of brands. Its offerings include makeup, skin care, hair care and other personal-care products designed to provide accessible, trend-focused beauty options across a range of categories.

The company's portfolio includes e.l.f. Cosmetics, Well People, Keys Soulcare and Naturium. Its products are sold through mass retailers, specialty beauty stores, e-commerce platforms and the brands' direct-to-consumer websites.

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