Short Interest in e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) Expands By 9.8%

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,920,000 shares, an increase of 9.8% from the October 15th total of 4,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,560,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Performance

ELF traded up $1.33 on Monday, hitting $122.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,169,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,915,145. e.l.f. Beauty has a 12 month low of $98.50 and a 12 month high of $221.83. The firm has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $111.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.07.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $301.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $289.43 million. e.l.f. Beauty had a return on equity of 19.34% and a net margin of 8.87%. e.l.f. Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. Analysts forecast that e.l.f. Beauty will post 2.8 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Tarang Amin sold 23,528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.45, for a total value of $3,210,395.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,016 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,465,883.20. This trade represents a 18.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

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

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in e.l.f. Beauty during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 405.9% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 456.3% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 178 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ELF. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a report on Monday, July 22nd. B. Riley dropped their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $220.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, e.l.f. Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.53.

About e.l.f. Beauty

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cosmetic and skin care products under the e.l.f. Cosmetics, e.l.f. Skin, Well People, and Keys Soulcare brand names worldwide. The company offers eye, lip, face, face, paw, and skin care products. It sells its products through national and international retailers and direct-to-consumer channels, which include e-commerce platforms in the United States, and internationally primarily through distributors.