Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Downgraded to Equal Weight Rating 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 released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $72.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $105.00.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group cut their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Thursday. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.95.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 20.9 %

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $68.93 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $90.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.91. 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 has a market capitalization of $24.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.01. Estée Lauder Companies has a 1 year low of $63.36 and a 1 year high of $159.75.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 244.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,578,114. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,578,114. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Armistice Capital LLC grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 111.8% in the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 182,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,398,000 after purchasing an additional 96,239 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $997,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,439 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,043,000. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 2nd quarter worth about $558,000. 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, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.