Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Stock Price Down 3.9%

Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) were down 3.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $106.25 and last traded at $106.57. Approximately 411,824 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 2,760,079 shares. The stock had previously closed at $110.86.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EL. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $164.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $191.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $169.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.75.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 4.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market cap of $37.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.60.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently 148.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, CFO Tracey Thomas Travis sold 14,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.73, for a total value of $1,967,134.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 47,248 shares in the company, valued at $6,412,971.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Estée Lauder Companies news, insider Peter Jueptner sold 12,786 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.62, for a total transaction of $1,670,107.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $728,598.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Tracey Thomas Travis sold 14,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.73, for a total value of $1,967,134.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 47,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,412,971.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,255 shares of company stock worth $5,453,232 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $518,975,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $291,171,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,720,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,512,982 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,188,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250,555 shares during the period. Finally, Carmignac Gestion raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1,908.0% during the 4th quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 1,195,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,895,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136,201 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.