Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Given Buy Rating at DA Davidson

DA Davidson restated their buy rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $191.00 price target on the stock.

EL has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America upgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $160.00 to $170.00 in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup upgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their target price for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Raymond James raised their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $168.17.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $144.96 on Monday. Estée Lauder Companies has a fifty-two week low of $102.22 and a fifty-two week high of $250.63. The firm has a market cap of $51.96 billion, a PE ratio of 111.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $146.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.19 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 3.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 203.08%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $518,975,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,720,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,512,982 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $767,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387,271 shares during the period. Carmignac Gestion increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1,908.0% during the fourth quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 1,195,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,895,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136,201 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 132.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,735,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,901,000 after acquiring an additional 988,829 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.