Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $74.00 to $80.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price indicates a potential downside of 2.82% from the stock’s current price.

EL has been the subject of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.95.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $82.33 on Thursday. Estée Lauder Companies has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month high of $159.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $76.11 and a 200 day moving average of $84.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $29.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 147.01, a PEG ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.02.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 77,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.01 per share, with a total value of $4,960,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,010,345. This trade represents a 49.36 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following 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. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EL. State Street Corp lifted 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 valued at $1,054,314,000 after buying an additional 913,470 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,996,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,630,000 after purchasing an additional 954,493 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,679,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $464,587,000 after purchasing an additional 70,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 80.8% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,934,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310,900 shares during the last quarter. 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.