Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Earns "Outperform" Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reissued by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $100.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada's price objective suggests a potential upside of 44.10% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on EL. Telsey Advisory Group restated a "market perform" rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.95.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 16.2 %

Estée Lauder Companies stock traded down $13.38 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $69.40. The stock had a trading volume of 17,541,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,924,125. Estée Lauder Companies has a 12 month low of $62.29 and a 12 month 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. The stock has a market cap of $24.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 123.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $77.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.73.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.30. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 77,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.01 per share, with a total value of $4,960,775.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,010,345. This trade represents a 49.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company's stock worth $570,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 81.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,971,550 shares of the company's stock worth $222,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330,840 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 80.8% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,934,200 shares of the company's stock valued at $292,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310,900 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company's stock valued at $402,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 695.4% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,123,427 shares of the company's stock worth $111,994,000 after buying an additional 982,183 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.