Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Shares Down 3.4% – Here’s What Happened

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) traded down 3.4% on Friday . The company traded as low as $71.44 and last traded at $71.50. 775,717 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 1,518,579 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. HSBC downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Citigroup cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.82.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 2.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $25.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.86, a PEG ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.02. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $73.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.02.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 250.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Ecofi Investissements SA acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 752.9% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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