Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Given New $74.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $74.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on EL. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. HSBC downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, 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. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.50.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

NYSE EL opened at $73.75 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $72.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.11. Estée Lauder Companies has a 52 week low of $62.29 and a 52 week high of $159.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.70, a PEG ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 1.05.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 250.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased 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 directly owns 310,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,575,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,054,314,000 after acquiring an additional 913,470 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,679,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,587,000 after buying an additional 70,307 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,938,000 after buying an additional 1,078,926 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,320 shares in the last quarter. 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.