e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $131.23, but opened at $137.60. e.l.f. Beauty shares last traded at $142.00, with a volume of 598,727 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on ELF shares. B. Riley decreased their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price (up previously from $162.00) on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $167.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, e.l.f. Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.53.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.49. 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.52.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.34. e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 19.34%. The business had revenue of $301.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $289.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. will post 2.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at e.l.f. Beauty

In related news, Director Maureen C. Watson sold 785 shares of e.l.f. Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $102,050.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,888 shares in the company, valued at $245,440. This trade represents a 29.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new stake in e.l.f. Beauty in the second quarter valued at approximately $801,693,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at $121,558,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty during the third quarter worth $76,321,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 84.4% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,259,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,432,000 after buying an additional 576,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 223.2% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 555,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,543,000 after buying an additional 383,478 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

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.