Insider Buying: The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Director Acquires 77,500 Shares of Stock

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 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 completion of the acquisition, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

NYSE EL opened at $64.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.72, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month high of $159.75. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.36.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 471.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EL. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after buying an additional 1,920,439 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in 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 buying an additional 1,310,900 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its holdings 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 worth $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.

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.