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

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) was the target 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 trading volume of 2,560,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $223.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $210.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $220.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $250.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.53.

Insider Activity at e.l.f. Beauty

In other news, CEO Tarang Amin sold 23,528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.45, for a total transaction of $3,210,395.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,016 shares in the company, valued at $14,465,883.20. This trade represents a 18.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,659,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised 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 purchasing an additional 9,939 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 84.4% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,259,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,432,000 after purchasing an additional 576,383 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 503,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,905,000 after purchasing an additional 62,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 55.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 730,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,633,000 after purchasing an additional 261,707 shares during the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

e.l.f. Beauty Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of ELF stock opened at $122.85 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $111.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $154.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.01. e.l.f. Beauty has a 1-year low of $98.50 and a 1-year high of $221.83. The firm has a market cap of $6.92 billion, a PE ratio of 65.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.44.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $301.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $289.43 million. e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 19.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that e.l.f. Beauty will post 2.8 EPS 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.