Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Stock Rating Lowered by Wells Fargo & Company

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $72.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $105.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 0.59% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on EL. Citigroup downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of 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. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.73.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock traded down $15.57 on Thursday, reaching $71.58. The stock had a trading volume of 15,163,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,267,807. Estée Lauder Companies has a 1 year low of $63.50 and a 1 year high of $159.75. The company has a market cap of $25.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The business’s 50 day moving average is $91.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.18.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.39. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The firm had revenue of $3.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total value of $315,963.41. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,578,114. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at $1,423,714.49. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,578,114. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 12.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 111.8% during the second quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 182,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,398,000 after buying an additional 96,239 shares during the period. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the first quarter valued at $997,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after buying an additional 1,920,439 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter valued at $6,043,000. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter valued at $558,000. Institutional investors 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, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.