The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (EL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.35 on December 16th

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th.

Estée Lauder Companies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 21.0% per year over the last three years. Estée Lauder Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 89.7% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Research analysts expect Estée Lauder Companies to earn $2.54 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 55.1%.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 0.3 %

EL stock opened at $73.18 on Wednesday. Estée Lauder Companies has a 1-year low of $62.29 and a 1-year high of $159.75. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $82.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. B. Riley reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $113.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.57.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 77,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $64.01 per share, with a total value of $4,960,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 234,500 shares in the company, valued at $15,010,345. The trade was a 49.36 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

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.