The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $98.57.

EL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley cut their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

NYSE:EL opened at $75.08 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.43. The firm has a market cap of $26.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 134.07, a PEG ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.05. 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 has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year high of $159.75.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 250.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 75,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,045,982.88. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EL. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,575,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,054,314,000 after buying an additional 913,470 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,679,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,587,000 after purchasing an additional 70,307 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,320 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

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.