e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) was upgraded by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $153.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $139.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 15.96% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on ELF. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $167.00 to $154.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, e.l.f. Beauty presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.76.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Down 0.1 %

ELF opened at $131.94 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of 71.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. e.l.f. Beauty has a 52 week low of $98.50 and a 52 week high of $221.83.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other e.l.f. Beauty news, CEO Tarang Amin sold 890 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,699 shares in the company, valued at $13,718,582.40. This trade represents a 0.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Maureen C. Watson sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $102,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $245,440. This represents a 29.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,205 shares of company stock valued at $297,442 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,659,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 1,380.4% during the third 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 position in e.l.f. Beauty by 33.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 39,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,285,000 after acquiring an additional 9,939 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 576,383 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. raised its position in shares of 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 worth $54,905,000 after acquiring an additional 62,480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

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.