The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.35

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%.

Estée Lauder Companies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.0% per year over the last three years. Estée Lauder Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 91.7% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company's earnings tumble. Equities analysts expect Estée Lauder Companies to earn $4.01 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.8%.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Estée Lauder Companies stock traded down $18.21 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $68.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 27,398,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,325,790. Estée Lauder Companies has a 1-year low of $63.36 and a 1-year high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $91.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.18. The company has a market cap of $24.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.94, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.01.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.39. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The business had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.07 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at $1,423,714.49. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,578,114. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on EL. Raymond James cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $113.73.

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.