Estée Lauder Companies’ (EL) Buy Rating Reiterated at DA Davidson

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by DA Davidson in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $81.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 7.88% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on EL. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America reduced their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Hsbc Global Res cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:EL opened at $75.08 on Monday. Estée Lauder Companies has a 52 week low of $62.29 and a 52 week high of $159.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.99 and its 200-day moving average is $90.43. The firm has a market cap of $26.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 134.07, a P/E/G ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The company 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%. The firm’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 company earned $0.11 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,128,300. The trade was a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EL. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,533,006 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000,000 after buying an additional 1,920,439 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 80.8% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,934,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,510,000 after buying an additional 1,310,900 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,320 shares during the last quarter. 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.