Insider Buying: The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Director Acquires 75,500 Shares of Stock

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 75,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $20,128,300. This represents a 32.20 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:EL traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $64.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,939,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,463,374. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $83.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.36. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.29 and a 52 week high of $159.75. The company has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 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 net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. Estée Lauder Companies's revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. 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. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 471.43%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EL. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the third quarter worth $696,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 192,956 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,235,000 after buying an additional 10,701 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,614 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,722,000 after buying an additional 5,551 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management raised its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 767.1% in the third quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 10,474 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,044,000 after buying an additional 9,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 5.3% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,464 shares of the company's stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. HSBC lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $100.90.

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.