Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on EL. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a hold rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $129.00 to $105.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a neutral rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $120.27.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL opened at $85.01 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $30.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.76, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $92.92 and a 200-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 52 week low of $82.39 and a 52 week high of $159.75.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 16.91% and a net margin of 2.50%. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently 148.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 34.1% in the 1st quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 3,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 96 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.