Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $58.19, but opened at $53.00. Estée Lauder Companies shares last traded at $53.93, with a volume of 1,352,194 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.35. The company has a market cap of $18.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is -71.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava bought 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at $156,645.99. This represents a 41.64 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 43,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $66.35 per share, with a total value of $2,853,050.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 430,800 shares in the company, valued at $28,583,580. This trade represents a 11.09 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,014,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,025,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,344,210 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,382,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,078,406,000 after acquiring an additional 8,930,011 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,575,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,054,314,000 after acquiring an additional 913,470 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 7,858,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $589,205,000 after acquiring an additional 2,458,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $554,509,000. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Estée Lauder Companies Company Profile

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.