e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) Trading Down 16.5% – Here’s What Happened

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) traded down 16.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $56.90 and last traded at $56.67. 966,384 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 2,265,510 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on ELF shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research note on Friday, February 7th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on e.l.f. Beauty in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $133.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.24.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Down 18.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.63, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.77.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.35). e.l.f. Beauty had a net margin of 7.55% and a return on equity of 16.88%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. will post 2.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Maureen C. Watson sold 4,000 shares of e.l.f. Beauty stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.39, for a total transaction of $269,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $127,232.32. The trade was a 67.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

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

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in e.l.f. Beauty by 51.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 16,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after buying an additional 5,655 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 5.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,186,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,393,000 after acquiring an additional 61,524 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 5.9% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 762 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in e.l.f. Beauty by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 192,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,958,000 after purchasing an additional 4,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atom Investors LP purchased a new position in e.l.f. Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $697,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.