Short Interest in e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) Decreases By 10.0%

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,690,000 shares, a decrease of 10.0% from the February 29th total of 2,990,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ELF shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $168.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on e.l.f. Beauty in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $185.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $141.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $212.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $130.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, e.l.f. Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.58.

Insider Activity at e.l.f. Beauty

In other e.l.f. Beauty news, SVP Joshua Allen Franks sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.53, for a total value of $30,506.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,880,687.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other e.l.f. Beauty news, CEO Tarang Amin sold 23,519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.89, for a total value of $4,677,693.91. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 10,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,165,713.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joshua Allen Franks sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.53, for a total value of $30,506.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,880,687.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,922 shares of company stock worth $10,145,374. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

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

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ELF. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 7.6% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 6,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 1.1% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 428,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,076,000 after buying an additional 4,476 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 12.4% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 41,711 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,077,000 after buying an additional 4,617 shares during the period. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty during the first quarter worth about $342,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 53.3% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 26,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after buying an additional 9,189 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Down 3.1 %

NYSE:ELF traded down $6.00 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $185.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,705,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,484,403. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $186.14 and a 200-day moving average of $144.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. e.l.f. Beauty has a 52-week low of $78.89 and a 52-week high of $221.83.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 14.53% and a return on equity of 28.98%. The company had revenue of $270.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.66 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that e.l.f. Beauty will post 2.49 earnings per share for the current year.

e.l.f. Beauty Company Profile

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.