HSBC Lowers Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) to Hold

HSBC cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $100.00 price target on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $117.36.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 0.6 %

Estée Lauder Companies stock traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $90.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,262,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,207,455. 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 stock has a market cap of $32.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $91.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.35. Estée Lauder Companies has a 12 month low of $82.39 and a 12 month high of $159.75.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Estée Lauder Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at $4,578,114. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.77% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,188,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,555 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company's stock worth $368,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,320 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 4.6% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,163,232 shares of the company's stock worth $487,612,000 after acquiring an additional 140,416 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 12.0% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,962,985 shares of the company's stock worth $315,262,000 after acquiring an additional 318,257 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company's stock worth $211,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,439 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company's stock.

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.