The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Short Interest Update

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) was the target of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,590,000 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the December 15th total of 8,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of EL stock traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $77.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,948,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,646,628. Estée Lauder Companies has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year high of $159.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.04, a P/E/G ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently 250.00%.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 77,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.01 per share, for a total transaction of $4,960,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 234,500 shares in the company, valued at $15,010,345. This represents a 49.36 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $570,600,000 after buying an additional 2,533,006 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,439 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 80.8% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,934,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310,900 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on EL. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. HSBC downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.55.

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.