Estée Lauder Companies’ (EL) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at DA Davidson

DA Davidson reissued their buy rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $130.00 target price on the stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on EL. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a hold rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Raymond James lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a strong-buy rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $121.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL stock opened at $91.43 on Tuesday. 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 $32.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $91.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $111.35. 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 (NYSE:EL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.07 earnings per share. Estée Lauder Companies’s 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 148.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total value 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,578,114. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at $1,423,714.49. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,250,555 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after buying an additional 1,066,320 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,163,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $487,612,000 after acquiring an additional 140,416 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,962,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,262,000 after acquiring an additional 318,257 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

About Estée Lauder Companies

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.