Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Shares Down 5.9% on Analyst Downgrade

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) shares fell 5.9% on Wednesday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $77.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the stock. Estée Lauder Companies traded as low as $66.13 and last traded at $65.38. 3,306,247 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 3,867,091 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.47.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on EL. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, January 31st. B. Riley decreased their target price 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. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $76.00 target price 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,128,300. The trade was a 32.20 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted 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 period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,996,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,630,000 after acquiring an additional 954,493 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 1.5% in 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 during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,971,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330,840 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $77.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.52. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $23.62 billion, a PE ratio of 117.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently 250.00%.

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.