Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Stock Price Down 3.2%

Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) dropped 3.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $146.91 and last traded at $147.86. Approximately 349,529 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 2,753,583 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.77.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on EL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $146.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.46.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 1.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $51.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $145.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.34.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.19 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 3.08%. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 203.08%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,435,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,842,514,000 after acquiring an additional 809,370 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,019,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,967,607,000 after acquiring an additional 184,641 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,009,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,739,070,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167,553 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $767,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,867,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,912,000 after buying an additional 146,006 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

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