Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Shares Gap Up to $91.51

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $91.51, but opened at $95.96. Estée Lauder Companies shares last traded at $94.15, with a volume of 1,513,411 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on EL shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $140.00 to $100.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, UBS Group decreased 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. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $124.39.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 0.1 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $101.24 and a 200-day moving average of $126.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.37, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.39. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 13.08% and a net margin of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Estée Lauder Companies's dividend payout ratio is 148.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Jane Lauder sold 14,976 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.26, for a total transaction of $1,815,989.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,389 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,958,990.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 12.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $518,975,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company's stock worth $211,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,439 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $291,171,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Carmignac Gestion raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 1,908.0% in the 4th quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 1,195,750 shares of the company's stock worth $174,895,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,201 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.