Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Shares Up 6% After Analyst Upgrade

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)’s share price was up 6% during trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $74.00 to $79.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Estée Lauder Companies traded as high as $79.00 and last traded at $79.00. Approximately 1,766,343 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 2,891,156 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.52.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on EL. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,128,300. This represents a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 297.0% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Ecofi Investissements SA acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 752.9% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 580 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 6.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.96. The stock has a market cap of $28.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.59, a P/E/G ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 1.02.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 250.00%.

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