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

DA Davidson reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $81.00 target price on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $69.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.10 billion, a PE ratio of 124.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.48. Estée Lauder Companies has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year 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.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. Research analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 250.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 75,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $64.93 per share, with a total value of $4,902,215.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,128,300. This represents a 32.20 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,578,114. This represents a 6.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. PARK CIRCLE Co purchased a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter worth $32,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.