The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Declares $0.35 Quarterly Dividend

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 4th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th.

Estée Lauder Companies has raised its dividend by an average of 2.1% per year over the last three years. Estée Lauder Companies has a payout ratio of 53.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Estée Lauder Companies to earn $2.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.9%.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 5.3 %

NYSE EL traded down $3.68 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $65.79. 11,894,387 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,281,980. The company has a market capitalization of $23.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.49, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.52. Estée Lauder Companies has a 12 month low of $62.29 and a 12 month high of $159.54. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.30. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on EL shares. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 12.78% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.