Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Downgraded by Morgan Stanley to Equal Weight

Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report released on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $140.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $164.00.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Citigroup raised Estée Lauder Companies from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $160.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $160.92.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE EL traded down $2.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $132.94. 3,791,987 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,776,756. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market cap of $47.66 billion, a PE ratio of 74.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $145.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.18. Estée Lauder Companies has a fifty-two week low of $102.22 and a fifty-two week high of $209.64.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.49. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 13.08% and a net margin of 4.18%. The firm 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 company earned $0.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently 148.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EL. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $13,285,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,262.5% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 222.8% in the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 14,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,170,000 after buying an additional 9,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boomfish Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC now owns 8,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,266,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.