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

Key Points

• e.l.f. Beauty's shares gapped down to $97.68 after UBS Group reduced its price target from $120.00 to $112.00.
• UBS currently holds a neutral rating on the stock, while multiple other analysts have set target prices ranging from $105.00 to $150.00 with generally positive ratings.
• Insider transactions revealed that key executives sold shares totaling over $14 million, reflecting a significant decrease in their ownership percentages.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF - Get Free Report) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $120.00 to $112.00. The stock had previously closed at $110.39, but opened at $97.68. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. e.l.f. Beauty shares last traded at $95.30, with a volume of 1,692,901 shares changing hands.

ELF has been the subject of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $110.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up previously from $110.00) on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $124.81.

Insider Transactions at e.l.f. Beauty

In other e.l.f. Beauty news, insider Kory Marchisotto sold 11,860 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.56, for a total value of $1,370,541.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 159,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,466,372.44. The trade was a 6.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joshua Allen Franks sold 11,860 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.56, for a total transaction of $1,370,541.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 121,967 shares in the company, valued at $14,094,506.52. The trade was a 8.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 126,589 shares of company stock valued at $14,547,949 over the last three months. 3.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of e.l.f. Beauty

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ELF. Norges Bank purchased a new position in e.l.f. Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,403,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 2,769.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 72,032 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,044,000 after buying an additional 69,522 shares during the period. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. now owns 98,350 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,348,000 after buying an additional 28,126 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in e.l.f. Beauty by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 198,673 shares of the company's stock worth $24,943,000 after acquiring an additional 13,118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 20,668 shares of the company's stock worth $2,595,000 after acquiring an additional 4,023 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.44% of the company's stock.

e.l.f. Beauty Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 3.05.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.05. e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 8.53% and a return on equity of 17.98%. The firm had revenue of $353.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $348.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that e.l.f. Beauty will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

About e.l.f. Beauty

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.

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