The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.35

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th.

Estée Lauder Companies has raised its dividend by an average of 2.1% per year over the last three years. Estée Lauder Companies has a payout ratio of 53.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Estée Lauder Companies to earn $2.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.9%.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

EL traded down $3.68 on Wednesday, reaching $65.79. The company had a trading volume of 9,116,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,140,892. The company has a market capitalization of $23.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.49, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a fifty day moving average of $77.22 and a 200-day moving average of $83.52. Estée Lauder Companies has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year high of $159.54.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.30. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 75,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $20,128,300. The trade was a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.55.

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.