Elastic (NYSE:ESTC) Sees Strong Trading Volume After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Elastic's stock saw increased trading volume after Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target from $112.00 to $134.00, maintaining a buy rating, although the current trading price is $84.18.
• Analysts have varying opinions on Elastic's stock, with ratings that include one "Strong Buy," twenty "Buy," and nine "Hold," contributing to a consensus target price of $115.84.
• Insider trading activity includes notable sales by CRO Mark Eugene Dodds and CEO Ashutosh Kulkarni, reflecting a slight decrease in their ownership stakes while 15.90% of the stock is still owned by insiders.

Elastic N.V. (NYSE:ESTC - Get Free Report) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $112.00 to $134.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. 1,535,818 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the previous session's volume of 1,690,705 shares.The stock last traded at $84.18 and had previously closed at $87.79.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Elastic in a research report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Elastic from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Elastic in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Elastic in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Elastic from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $115.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Elastic

In related news, CRO Mark Eugene Dodds sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total transaction of $208,750.00. Following the sale, the executive owned 172,321 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,388,803.50. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ashutosh Kulkarni sold 22,901 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.91, for a total value of $1,990,325.91. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 454,841 shares in the company, valued at $39,530,231.31. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,913 shares of company stock worth $4,416,324 in the last three months. 15.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Elastic

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sylebra Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Elastic by 62.6% in the 4th quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 4,561,462 shares of the company's stock valued at $451,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,756,842 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Elastic by 5,437.6% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,288,128 shares of the company's stock valued at $203,872,000 after buying an additional 2,246,808 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Elastic by 30.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,832,215 shares of the company's stock valued at $153,100,000 after buying an additional 428,356 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Elastic by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,574,525 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,780,000 after buying an additional 59,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Elastic by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,569,578 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,384,000 after buying an additional 54,812 shares during the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Elastic Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -80.46 and a beta of 1.07. The stock's 50 day moving average is $82.67 and its 200 day moving average is $88.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Elastic (NYSE:ESTC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.10. Elastic had a negative net margin of 7.29% and a negative return on equity of 4.46%. The business had revenue of $388.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $380.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. Elastic's quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Elastic N.V. will post -0.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Elastic Company Profile

Elastic N.V., a data analytics company, delivers solutions designed to run in public or private clouds in multi-cloud environments. It primarily offers Elastic Stack, a set of software products that ingest and store data from various sources and formats, as well as performs search, analysis, and visualization on that data.

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