The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Announces $0.66 Quarterly Dividend

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, August 19th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of 0.66 per share on Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th.

Estée Lauder Companies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.0% annually over the last three years. Estée Lauder Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 66.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Estée Lauder Companies to earn $3.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.0%.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL stock opened at $90.97 on Wednesday. Estée Lauder Companies has a fifty-two week low of $86.05 and a fifty-two week high of $165.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.11, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.98.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on EL. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Bernstein Bank lifted their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $129.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.13.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, EVP Jane Lauder sold 14,976 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.26, for a total transaction of $1,815,989.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,958,990.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 12.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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