Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Stock Price

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) had its target price lifted by Barclays from $63.00 to $71.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on EL. B. Riley reduced their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.55.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

NYSE EL opened at $77.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.04, a PEG ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50 day moving average is $73.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.83. Estée Lauder Companies has a 12-month low of $62.29 and a 12-month high of $159.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 250.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 77,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $64.01 per share, with a total value of $4,960,775.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,010,345. This represents a 49.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at $20,045,982.88. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EL. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the third quarter worth $31,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 297.0% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ecofi Investissements SA purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% 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.