JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Stock Price

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Free Report) had its price target raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $74.00 to $79.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on EL. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.55.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Estée Lauder Companies stock traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $77.86. The company had a trading volume of 2,948,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,191,698. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.83. The company has a market cap of $27.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.04, a P/E/G ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 1.02. Estée Lauder Companies has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $159.75. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion for 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%. Estée Lauder Companies's revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies's payout ratio is 250.00%.

Insider Activity

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 75,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $64.93 per share, with a total value of $4,902,215.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 310,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % 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

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EL. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 297.0% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 401 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 476 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ecofi Investissements SA bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter worth $53,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently 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.