Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Position in e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) by 60.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 130,649 shares of the company’s stock after selling 197,908 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.23% of e.l.f. Beauty worth $8,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ELF. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 242.7% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 8,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 5,833 shares in the last quarter. Compound Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of e.l.f. Beauty in the first quarter worth approximately $584,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in e.l.f. Beauty by 165.6% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 15,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $953,000 after acquiring an additional 9,466 shares in the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 25.6% during the first quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 75,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,727,000 after purchasing an additional 15,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its holdings in e.l.f. Beauty by 10.5% during the first quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 109,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,868,000 after purchasing an additional 10,392 shares during the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at e.l.f. Beauty

In other news, insider Scott Milsten sold 11,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.56, for a total transaction of $1,370,541.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 118,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,732,688.16. This represents a 9.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Joshua Allen Franks sold 51,353 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.36, for a total value of $2,740,196.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 114,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,118,257.60. The trade was a 30.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 327,207 shares of company stock valued at $25,252,926 over the last three months. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Performance

NYSE:ELF opened at $106.96 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $107.12 and its 200-day moving average is $89.63. e.l.f. Beauty has a 1-year low of $49.40 and a 1-year high of $195.26.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.06. e.l.f. Beauty had a return on equity of 17.98% and a net margin of 8.53%. The company had revenue of $332.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $327.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that e.l.f. Beauty will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ELF has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $70.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $110.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target (up from $110.00) on shares of e.l.f. Beauty in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on e.l.f. Beauty from $113.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.13.

e.l.f. Beauty Profile

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.