Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Stock Rating Lowered by Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $72.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $105.00.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.95.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of EL opened at $68.93 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.73 billion, a PE ratio of 63.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.01. Estée Lauder Companies has a one year low of $63.36 and a one year high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $90.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.91.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 244.44%.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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 approximately $4,578,114. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EL. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,439 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the first quarter worth $291,171,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,188,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250,555 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

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, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.