e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) Trading Down 5.4% – Should You Sell?

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF)’s share price traded down 5.4% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $120.32 and last traded at $120.13. 826,818 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 1,352,080 shares. The stock had previously closed at $126.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ELF has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective 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. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $154.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $131.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, e.l.f. Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.06.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Down 5.7 %

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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.95. The stock has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.63, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.50.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $301.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $289.43 million. e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 19.34%. e.l.f. Beauty’s revenue was up 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. Analysts expect that e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Scott Milsten sold 530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.60, for a total value of $72,928.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 68,853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,474,172.80. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Tarang Amin sold 890 shares of e.l.f. Beauty stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.60, for a total transaction of $122,464.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 99,699 shares in the company, valued at $13,718,582.40. This represents a 0.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,205 shares of company stock valued at $297,442. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On e.l.f. Beauty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in e.l.f. Beauty in the second quarter worth about $6,659,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 1,380.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 16,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,775,000 after buying an additional 15,184 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 33.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 39,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,285,000 after buying an additional 9,939 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in e.l.f. Beauty by 84.4% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,259,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,432,000 after acquiring an additional 576,383 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. raised its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 14.2% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 503,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,905,000 after acquiring an additional 62,480 shares in the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.