DA Davidson Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL)

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at DA Davidson in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $81.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 0.94% from the company’s previous close.

EL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. B. Riley dropped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.68.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

EL opened at $80.25 on Wednesday. Estée Lauder Companies has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month high of $159.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.81 billion, a PE ratio of 143.30, a PEG ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 1.02. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $74.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.92.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The company’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 75,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the purchase, 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 Investors Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 297.0% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter worth $32,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. 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.