DA Davidson Reiterates Buy Rating for Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL)

DA Davidson reissued their buy rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. DA Davidson currently has a $81.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on EL. StockNews.com lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. HSBC cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $69.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $82.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.26. Estée Lauder Companies has a 12 month low of $62.29 and a 12 month high of $159.75. The company has a market capitalization of $25.10 billion, a PE ratio of 124.88, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently 471.43%.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 77,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 approximately $15,010,345. This trade represents a 49.36 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total value of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,578,114. This trade represents a 6.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EL. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter worth $30,000. PARK CIRCLE Co purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.