Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Cut to Hold at HSBC

HSBC cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $100.00 price target on the stock.

EL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $131.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.36.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of EL stock opened at $90.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $91.68 and a 200-day moving average of $110.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $32.29 billion, a PE ratio of 50.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. Estée Lauder Companies has a one year low of $82.39 and a one year high of $159.75.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 148.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at $4,578,114. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at $4,578,114. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,439 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $291,171,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,188,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,555 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,320 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter valued at $82,664,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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