Paul J. Fribourg Acquires 77,500 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Stock

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 77,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $64.01 per share, for a total transaction of $4,960,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares in the company, valued at $15,010,345. The trade was a 49.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of EL opened at $65.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.05. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.29 and a 52 week high of $159.75.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion during 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 471.43%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EL. Bard Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the third quarter worth $1,789,000. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the third quarter worth $696,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 5.9% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 192,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,235,000 after buying an additional 10,701 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 4.5% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,722,000 after buying an additional 5,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 767.1% in the third quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 10,474 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,044,000 after buying an additional 9,266 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on EL shares. B. Riley cut their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $113.00 to $74.00 in a 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.57.

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.