Estée Lauder Companies’ (EL) Buy Rating Reiterated at DA Davidson

DA Davidson reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $81.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on EL. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, CICC Research began coverage on Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, December 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $82.00 target price for the company. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.68.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 3.1 %

NYSE:EL opened at $82.58 on Wednesday. Estée Lauder Companies has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year high of $159.75. 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 company has a market cap of $29.64 billion, a PE ratio of 147.46, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.89.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 250.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 77,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.01 per share, for a total transaction of $4,960,775.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares in the company, valued at $15,010,345. This represents a 49.36 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EL. Centre Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,585,000. Armistice Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 111.8% during the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 182,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,398,000 after purchasing an additional 96,239 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 47.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 141,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,392,000 after purchasing an additional 45,687 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 729.4% in the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 47,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,735,000 after buying an additional 41,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $570,600,000 after buying an additional 2,533,006 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.