The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Short Interest Update

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,590,000 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the December 31st total of 8,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,570,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 16.6 %

Shares of NYSE EL traded down $13.70 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $69.07. The stock had a trading volume of 10,974,009 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,605,437. The firm has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.03. Estée Lauder Companies has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $77.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.73.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.31. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EL. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 77,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $64.01 per share, for a total transaction of $4,960,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,010,345. This trade represents a 49.36 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 103.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 60,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,285,000 after buying an additional 30,562 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,304,000 after acquiring an additional 6,102 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,868,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 11,769.4% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 52,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,607,000 after acquiring an additional 52,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 47,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,732,000 after buying an additional 3,065 shares during the period. 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.