Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Shares Gap Up to $91.51

Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $91.51, but opened at $95.96. Estée Lauder Companies shares last traded at $94.15, with a volume of 1,513,411 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Bernstein Bank boosted their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $191.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Estée Lauder Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.39.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.62, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.99. 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 (NYSE:EL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 148.31%.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, EVP Jane Lauder sold 14,976 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 12.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter worth $9,689,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 121.8% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $180,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $860,000 after buying an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 148,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,787,000 after buying an additional 11,761 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

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