Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Sets New 1-Year Low After Insider Selling

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $63.14 and last traded at $63.15, with a volume of 3258928 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $65.86.

Specifically, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on EL shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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 report on Friday, November 1st. B. Riley decreased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. HSBC lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $136.00 to $117.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Nineteen research 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.com, Estée Lauder Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.90.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 4.8 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.59. 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 $23.79 billion, a PE ratio of 119.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.05.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released 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 company had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. Analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 471.43%.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,439 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,188,832,000 after buying an additional 1,250,555 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,066,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter worth $82,664,000. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.