DA Davidson Reaffirms Buy Rating for Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL)

DA Davidson restated their buy rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $130.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on EL. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $136.00 to $117.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 19th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $122.77.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

NYSE EL opened at $87.49 on Tuesday. Estée Lauder Companies has a twelve month low of $86.05 and a twelve month high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.37 billion, a PE ratio of 49.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.45.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted 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 return on equity of 16.91% and a net margin of 2.50%. 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 firm earned $0.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Estée Lauder Companies news, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,578,114. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in the 1st 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. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,151,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,169,000 after purchasing an additional 496,308 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $518,975,000. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,320 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,163,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $487,612,000 after purchasing an additional 140,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

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.