e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) has recently received a significant increase in short interest during the month of March, with short interest totaling 1,910,000 shares, up 13.7% from the previous month. With an average daily trading volume of 908,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days. Currently, 3.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. However, this hasn’t stopped the stock from performing well, with e.l.f. Beauty’s stock up 4.3% recently, and trading at $82.35.
e.l.f. Beauty has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.88, with a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 3.00, and a quick ratio of 2.08. Its 50-day moving average is $71.10, while its 200-day moving average is $56.26.
e.l.f. Beauty’s last earnings results were released on Wednesday, February 1st. The company beat the consensus estimate of $0.16 with earnings per share of $0.37. The company had revenue of $146.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.82 million. e.l.f. Beauty had a return on equity of 15.00% and a net margin of 9.43%. Sell-side analysts predict that e.l.f. Beauty will post earnings per share of 1.02 for the current fiscal year.
Despite the recent increase in short interest, e.l.f. Beauty has been receiving positive attention from Wall Street analysts. StockNews.com initiated coverage with a “hold” rating, but other analysts have provided the stock with “buy” ratings, particularly after its strong earnings results. Piper Sandler upped its price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in March. Cowen also upped its price target from $36.00 to $70.00 and gave e.l.f. Beauty a “market perform” rating in February. Bank of America and DA Davidson also upped their price targets and gave the stock a “buy” rating in their reports.
Insider activity has been positive to neutral. Insider Kory Marchisotto sold 28,775 shares of the firm’s stock at an average price of $69.82 on March 13th. Following the transaction, Marchisotto now owns 143,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,046,050.70. CEO Tarang Amin sold 39,740 shares of e.l.f. Beauty stock at an average price of $55.56 on January 5th, with Amin now directly owning 347,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,306,877.76. Insiders have sold a total of 311,195 shares of company stock valued at $20,604,238 over the last quarter, and 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Several companies have recently modified their holdings of e.l.f. Beauty. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY lifted its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position by 33.9% during the same quarter, and Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position by 5.4%. Point72 Middle East FZE and Chartwell Investment Partners LLC also bought new positions in the company during the fourth quarter. Institutional investors own 95.14% of the company’s stock.
e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. operates as a holding company that engages in the provision of cosmetic and skin-care products. Its brands include elf, elf skin, WELL People, and KEYS soulcare. The company focuses on the e-commerce, national retailers, and international business channels. It was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Oakland, CA.
Overall, e.l.f. Beauty has been receiving positive attention from Wall Street analysts, despite the recent increase in short interest. With strong earnings results and positive insider activity, the stock may continue to perform well in the future.
