e.l.f. Beauty shares drop as Wall Street caution lingers ahead of next earnings update

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (ELF) is down 8.4% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The move looks most consistent with a continuation of recent bearish sentiment following a major brokerage downgrade that highlighted weakening U.S. cosmetics share trends and trimmed its price target. With the company’s next quarterly update approaching, investors may also be de-risking into the event after a volatile stretch for the stock.

Details:

e.l.f. Beauty scheduled its fourth quarter fiscal 2026 results webcast for Wednesday, May 20, 2026, which can raise near-term positioning and volatility as traders adjust exposure ahead of earnings.

A recent Morgan Stanley rating downgrade (with a lower price target) focused on concerns around market share losses in core U.S. cosmetics, pressuring the narrative around growth durability.

Analyst activity around the name has turned more cautious lately, with multiple updates emphasizing valuation sensitivity and the need for clearer evidence of re-accelerating core momentum.

This could also be amplified by technical selling (stop-losses, systematic flows) given the stock’s recent drawdown and elevated day-to-day swings.

Sources:

Business Wire, Benzinga, Investing.com, Stock Analysis

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$ELF Insider Trading Activity

$ELF insiders have traded $ELF stock on the open market 11 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 1 have been purchases and 10 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $ELF stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

TARANG AMIN (Chief Executive Officer) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 43,042 shares for an estimated $2,764,664.
SCOTT MILSTEN has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 24,703 shares for an estimated $1,587,243.
KORY MARCHISOTTO (See Remarks) sold 23,796 shares for an estimated $1,514,853
MANDY J FIELDS (See Remarks) sold 23,656 shares for an estimated $1,505,940
JOSHUA ALLEN FRANKS (SVP, Operations) sold 23,535 shares for an estimated $1,498,238
JENNIFER CATHERINE HARTNETT (Chief Commercial Officer) sold 20,829 shares for an estimated $1,325,974
MATTHEW FARRELL purchased 5,000 shares for an estimated $464,814
LAUREN COOKS LEVITAN has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 3,760 shares for an estimated $269,531.

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard. You can access data on insider stock transactions through the Quiver Quantitative API insider transaction endpoint.

$ELF Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 222 institutional investors add shares of $ELF stock to their portfolio, and 307 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

FMR LLC removed 983,730 shares (-82.1%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $74,802,829
BNP PARIBAS FINANCIAL MARKETS added 896,282 shares (+3131.7%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $68,153,283
SWEDBANK AB removed 884,000 shares (-64.8%) from their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $53,579,240
BLACKROCK, INC. removed 859,121 shares (-13.8%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $65,327,560
CHAMPLAIN INVESTMENT PARTNERS, LLC removed 849,062 shares (-41.2%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $64,562,674
ILEX CAPITAL PARTNERS (UK) LLP added 827,996 shares (+192.9%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $62,960,815
PRICE T ROWE ASSOCIATES INC /MD/ added 711,540 shares (+47.9%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $54,105,501

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard. You can access data on hedge funds moves and 13F filings through the Quiver Quantitative API 13F endpoint.

$ELF Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $ELF in the last several months. We have seen 2 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

TD Cowen issued a "Buy" rating on 01/21/2026
JP Morgan issued a "Overweight" rating on 12/18/2025

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $ELF, check out Quiver Quantitative's $ELF forecast page.

$ELF Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $ELF recently. We have seen 11 analysts offer price targets for $ELF in the last 6 months, with a median target of $85.0.

Here are some recent targets:

Dara Mohsenian from Morgan Stanley set a target price of $67.0 on 05/01/2026
Joel Beatty from Baird set a target price of $90.0 on 04/28/2026
Andrea Teixeira from JP Morgan set a target price of $85.0 on 04/17/2026
Filippo Falorni from Citigroup set a target price of $87.0 on 04/15/2026
Anna Lizzul from B of A Securities set a target price of $93.0 on 04/10/2026
Peter Grom from UBS set a target price of $70.0 on 04/07/2026
Javier Escalante from Evercore ISI Group set a target price of $68.0 on 04/02/2026

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.