Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

EL has been the topic of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $160.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $145.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson reissued a buy rating and set a $191.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $160.92.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock traded down $2.00 during trading on Thursday, hitting $132.94. The stock had a trading volume of 3,791,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,776,756. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $47.66 billion, a PE ratio of 74.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.07. Estée Lauder Companies has a 1 year low of $102.22 and a 1 year high of $209.64. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.18.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.49. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 148.31%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,435,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,842,514,000 after acquiring an additional 809,370 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $767,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387,271 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,483,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $648,085,000 after purchasing an additional 254,198 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,151,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $607,169,000 after buying an additional 496,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,720,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,850,000 after buying an additional 1,512,982 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.