Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Coverage Initiated at CICC Research

Stock analysts at CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a “market perform” rating and a $82.00 price target on the stock. CICC Research’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 9.89% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on EL. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on 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. Finally, B. Riley lowered 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. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.82.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $74.62 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.40. Estée Lauder Companies has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month high of $159.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.79 billion, a PE ratio of 133.25, a PEG ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.05.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its 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 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EL. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $570,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,533,006 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after buying an additional 1,920,439 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 80.8% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,934,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,510,000 after buying an additional 1,310,900 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,926 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after acquiring 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.