The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (EL) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 31st

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 1st, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.66 per share on Monday, June 17th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st.

Estée Lauder Companies has increased its dividend by an average of 21.0% annually over the last three years. Estée Lauder Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 62.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Estée Lauder Companies to earn $4.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.7%.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 6.0 %

Shares of EL stock opened at $134.95 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $146.22 and a 200-day moving average of $138.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Estée Lauder Companies has a 12-month low of $102.22 and a 12-month high of $210.01. The company has a market capitalization of $48.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.07.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.49. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America raised shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $160.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 target price for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $140.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.08.

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