Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Telsey Advisory Group restated a market perform rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Monday, August 19th. UBS Group cut their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. B. Riley started coverage on Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a neutral rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson restated a buy rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $131.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $120.27.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL stock opened at $85.01 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $92.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. Estée Lauder Companies has a 12 month low of $82.39 and a 12 month high of $159.75. The company has a market capitalization of $30.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.00.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.39. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 16.91% and a net margin of 2.50%. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.07 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 148.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,578,114. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at $4,578,114. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at $1,423,714.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EL. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 103.1% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. PARK CIRCLE Co bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Estée Lauder Companies Company Profile

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc manufactures, markets, and sells skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products worldwide. It offers skin care products, including moisturizers, serums, cleansers, toners, body care, exfoliators, acne care and oil correctors, facial masks, and sun care products; and makeup products, such as lipsticks, lip glosses, mascaras, foundations, eyeshadows, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.