Wells Fargo & Company Trims Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Target Price to $117.00

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) had its price objective cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $130.00 to $117.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

EL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Bank of America downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered Estée Lauder Companies from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Bernstein Bank raised their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $145.00 to $129.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued a market perform rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Monday. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $124.39.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $91.44 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.58. Estée Lauder Companies has a fifty-two week low of $86.05 and a fifty-two week high of $165.76. The stock has a market cap of $32.79 billion, a PE ratio of 51.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $101.24 and a 200-day moving average of $126.48.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.39. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 13.08% and a net margin of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 148.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jane Lauder sold 14,976 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.26, for a total value of $1,815,989.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,958,990.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 12.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of EL. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 34.1% during the first quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 16,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,440,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 2.3% in the first quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 3,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is owned by 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, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.