Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Trading Up 4.4%

Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) were up 4.4% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $146.63 and last traded at $144.09. Approximately 2,687,130 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 1% from the average daily volume of 2,663,680 shares. The stock had previously closed at $138.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EL shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $179.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $51.76 billion, a PE ratio of 111.07, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $146.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.08.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $4.28 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 203.08%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 4,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 517.6% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 46,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,820,000 after purchasing an additional 39,082 shares during the period. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 221.9% in the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 62,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,075,000 after purchasing an additional 43,280 shares during the last quarter. YCG LLC grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. YCG LLC now owns 178,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,068,000 after purchasing an additional 9,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,411,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,776,000 after buying an additional 381,860 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

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.