Elastic (NYSE:ESTC) CTO Shay Banon Sells 6,201 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Elastic CTO Shay Banon sold 6,201 shares at an average price of $85.19, worth approximately $528,263, to cover tax withholding tied to vested equity awards. He retained nearly 4 million shares valued at about $340.3 million.
• Banon has made several additional sales since late August, including more than $13.5 million worth of shares on September 9, adding to investor focus on recurring insider selling after Elastic’s stock rally.
• Elastic reported quarterly EPS of $0.70 versus the $0.58 consensus and revenue of $478.1 million, up 15.2% year over year. Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $96.52.

Elastic N.V. (NYSE:ESTC - Get Free Report) CTO Shay Banon sold 6,201 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.19, for a total value of $528,263.19. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 3,994,770 shares in the company, valued at $340,314,456.30. The trade was a 0.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Shay Banon also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, September 9th, Shay Banon sold 155,586 shares of Elastic stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.82, for a total value of $13,507,976.52.
• On Friday, September 4th, Shay Banon sold 80,583 shares of Elastic stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.65, for a total transaction of $7,466,014.95.
• On Thursday, September 3rd, Shay Banon sold 23,702 shares of Elastic stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.11, for a total transaction of $2,230,595.22.
• On Thursday, September 3rd, Shay Banon sold 180,000 shares of Elastic stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.07, for a total transaction of $16,932,600.00.
• On Wednesday, September 2nd, Shay Banon sold 165,171 shares of Elastic stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.26, for a total transaction of $14,908,334.46.
• On Tuesday, September 1st, Shay Banon sold 111,127 shares of Elastic stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total transaction of $10,290,360.20.
• On Monday, August 31st, Shay Banon sold 200,000 shares of Elastic stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.47, for a total transaction of $19,294,000.00.

Elastic Stock Performance

ESTC traded down $0.04 on Friday, reaching $83.44. The company had a trading volume of 2,354,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,177,464. The stock has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 8.39 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 1.81. Elastic N.V. has a fifty-two week low of $42.05 and a fifty-two week high of $108.00. The company's fifty day moving average is $74.28 and its 200 day moving average is $60.91.

Elastic (NYSE:ESTC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 27th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.12. Elastic had a net margin of 20.84% and a negative return on equity of 0.35%. The firm had revenue of $478.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $469.75 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Elastic has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.290-3.370 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 0.800-0.820 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Elastic N.V. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on ESTC shares. Zacks Research upgraded Elastic from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Wolfe Research set a $55.00 target price on Elastic in a report on Friday, May 29th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Elastic from $106.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Elastic from $104.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Elastic from $58.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Elastic currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $96.52.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elastic

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESTC. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new position in Elastic in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Elastic during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Elastic during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Elastic in the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its position in shares of Elastic by 206.1% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 551 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.03% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Elastic

Here are the key news stories impacting Elastic this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Elastic introduced Elasticsearch Vector Database, a serverless offering designed for large-scale vector search and artificial-intelligence applications. The product is intended to simplify deployment, support hundreds of billions of vectors and strengthen Elastic’s position in the growing AI-search market. Elastic Introduces Serverless Vector Database
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush began coverage with an “outperform” rating and a $125 price target, implying substantial upside from the recent trading level. The recommendation reflects optimism about Elastic’s AI, search and cloud growth opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: Short interest dropped 39% between mid-August and August 31 to 3.87 million shares, or roughly 4.2% of shares outstanding. Reduced bearish positioning and only 1.1 days of short-interest coverage could provide technical support and limit short-selling pressure.
• Neutral Sentiment: Elastic’s latest quarterly results were strong, with $0.70 in adjusted EPS versus the $0.58 consensus and revenue of $478.1 million versus $469.8 million expected. Revenue grew 15.2% year over year, and fiscal 2027 EPS guidance was set at $3.29 to $3.37; however, these results were reported previously and may already be reflected in the stock’s valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: Several executives, including CEO Ashutosh Kulkarni, CFO Navam Welihinda, CRO Mark Dodds and CAO Jane Bone, sold shares on September 9. The sales totaled about 54,888 shares and $4.8 million, but were made to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards, making them less concerning than discretionary selling.
• Negative Sentiment: Repeated insider selling following a strong rally could still weigh on sentiment, particularly as investors assess whether the company’s AI-driven growth can justify its elevated valuation.

About Elastic

Elastic N.V. develops search, observability and security software for organizations that need to find, analyze and act on data. Its core technology, Elasticsearch, is a distributed search and analytics engine that can process structured and unstructured information from applications, websites, logs and other sources.

The company offers its platform through Elastic Cloud, a managed cloud service available across major public-cloud environments, as well as through self-managed deployments.

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