Bank of America Trims Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Target Price to $140.00

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Bank of America from $170.00 to $140.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 37.78% from the company’s current price.

EL has been the subject of several other reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $169.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup raised shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $191.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE EL opened at $101.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.99. Estée Lauder Companies has a 52-week low of $101.35 and a 52-week high of $196.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $119.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $1,967,134.89. Following the sale, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CFO Tracey Thomas Travis sold 14,493 shares of Estée Lauder Companies 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 owns 47,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,412,971.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jane Lauder sold 14,976 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.26, for a total transaction of $1,815,989.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,958,990.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,255 shares of company stock worth $5,453,232. 12.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 16,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,440,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 3,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in 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.