Morgan Stanley Lowers Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Price Target to $81.00

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) had its price target cut by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $85.00 to $81.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 24.45% from the company’s current price.

EL has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:EL opened at $65.09 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $23.36 billion, a PE ratio of 116.23, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.03. Estée Lauder Companies has a 1-year low of $62.29 and a 1-year high of $159.54.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 75,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought 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 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akhil Shrivastava bought 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $156,645.99. This trade represents a 41.64 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 196,700 shares of company stock valued at $12,762,093 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $358,000. AGF Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $213,000. Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 96,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,226,000 after acquiring an additional 29,202 shares during the period. Finally, Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $1,162,000. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.