e.l.f. Beauty slides as sector sentiment sours and margin worries linger

e.l.f. Beauty (ELF) is down 8.6% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The drop appears tied to a broader “risk-off” move in beauty stocks after a key peer’s outlook reset raised concerns about mass-beauty demand and promotions. Ongoing investor focus on tariff-driven margin pressure at e.l.f. and recent price-target cuts may also be amplifying the downside.

Details:

A major cosmetics peer recently withdrew its fiscal 2026 guidance and highlighted a tougher demand and promotional backdrop, which can pressure sentiment across mass-beauty names like e.l.f.

e.l.f.’s latest reported quarter showed continued sales growth but a lower gross margin, with management commentary pointing to tariff costs as a meaningful headwind.

e.l.f. reiterated fiscal 2026 net sales guidance in the mid-$1.5B range in its Q2 update; when macro sentiment worsens, high-multiple growth stocks can de-rate even without new company-specific news.

Sell-side research has featured notable price-target reductions in recent weeks, which can weigh on near-term positioning and momentum.

Sources:

e.l.f. Beauty Investor Relations, Coty earnings release, Trefis, StockAnalysis.com, Nasdaq

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 32 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 1 have been purchases and 31 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 5 sales selling 117,837 shares for an estimated $15,503,373.
SCOTT MILSTEN has made 0 purchases and 10 sales selling 86,487 shares for an estimated $11,909,034.
MANDY J FIELDS (See Remarks) has made 0 purchases and 8 sales selling 60,990 shares for an estimated $8,385,478.
KORY MARCHISOTTO (See Remarks) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 24,327 shares for an estimated $3,515,277.
JOSHUA ALLEN FRANKS (SVP, Operations) sold 7,913 shares for an estimated $1,147,385
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.
JENNIFER CATHERINE HARTNETT (Chief Commercial Officer) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 1,304 shares for an estimated $177,758.

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.

$ELF Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 221 institutional investors add shares of $ELF stock to their portfolio, and 347 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
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
SWEDBANK AB added 672,071 shares (+97.0%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $51,104,278

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.

$ELF Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $ELF in the last several months. We have seen 6 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
Goldman Sachs issued a "Buy" rating on 11/07/2025
Jefferies issued a "Buy" rating on 11/06/2025
Baird issued a "Outperform" rating on 11/06/2025
Canaccord Genuity issued a "Buy" rating on 11/06/2025

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 12 analysts offer price targets for $ELF in the last 6 months, with a median target of $120.0.

Here are some recent targets:

Oliver Chen from TD Cowen set a target price of $100.0 on 02/09/2026
Peter Grom from UBS set a target price of $102.0 on 02/05/2026
Andrea Teixeira from JP Morgan set a target price of $105.0 on 02/05/2026
Filippo Falorni from Citigroup set a target price of $115.0 on 02/05/2026
Ashley Helgans from Jefferies set a target price of $110.0 on 01/14/2026
Anna Andreeva from Piper Sandler set a target price of $85.0 on 12/22/2025
Patty Kanada from Goldman Sachs set a target price of $135.0 on 11/07/2025

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.