The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Receives $86.00 Average Target Price from Brokerages

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $86.00.

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:EL traded down $0.88 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $68.80. The company had a trading volume of 3,714,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,619,071. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $75.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.28, a PEG ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.03. Estée Lauder Companies has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year high of $159.54.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a negative net margin of 4.61% and a positive return on equity of 16.82%. The business's revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies's payout ratio is -71.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 43,000 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $66.35 per share, with a total value of $2,853,050.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 430,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,583,580. This represents a 11.09 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akhil Shrivastava acquired 700 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $65.79 per share, with a total value of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $156,645.99. This represents a 41.64 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 119,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,801,318. 12.78% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 13,465 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,008,000. Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $334,000. Utah Retirement Systems increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 38,236 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,867,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 48.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 294,857 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,108,000 after purchasing an additional 96,841 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.