The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Short Interest Up 7.1% in December

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) was the target of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,590,000 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the December 15th total of 8,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. B. Riley decreased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. CICC Research initiated coverage on Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, December 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $82.00 target price on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on 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. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.55.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

EL traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $77.86. 2,948,283 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,646,628. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.50. Estée Lauder Companies has a 52-week low of $62.29 and a 52-week high of $159.75. The company has a market capitalization of $27.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.04, a PEG ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 250.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

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

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EL. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $570,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,439 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 80.8% in 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 lifted 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 worth $402,938,000 after buying an additional 1,078,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,066,320 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.