Champlain Investment Partners LLC Acquires 1,111,550 Shares of e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE:ELF) by 99.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,226,451 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,111,550 shares during the quarter. e.l.f. Beauty makes up about 1.8% of Champlain Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Champlain Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in e.l.f. Beauty were worth $279,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 8,009,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,005,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,742 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,305,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,437,000 after purchasing an additional 669,321 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty during the 4th quarter worth $68,775,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of e.l.f. Beauty by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,772,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,541,000 after buying an additional 264,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in e.l.f. Beauty by 149.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 328,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,250,000 after acquiring an additional 197,028 shares during the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of e.l.f. Beauty from $102.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Raymond James dropped their price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $175.00 to $120.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on e.l.f. Beauty from $174.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on e.l.f. Beauty from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.76.

e.l.f. Beauty Stock Performance

ELF opened at $50.11 on Thursday. e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.40 and a 1-year high of $219.77. The company has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $64.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, analysts expect that e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. will post 2.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Maureen C. Watson sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.39, for a total value of $269,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,232.32. This represents a 67.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.50% 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.