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

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th.

Estée Lauder Companies has increased its dividend by an average of 21.0% annually over the last three years. Estée Lauder Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 89.7% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Research analysts expect Estée Lauder Companies to earn $2.54 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 55.1%.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of EL stock opened at $73.18 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $82.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.22. The firm has a market cap of $26.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.68, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 1.05. Estée Lauder Companies has a 1 year low of $62.29 and a 1 year high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.93 per share, with a total value of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,128,300. The trade was a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on EL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, October 31st. HSBC lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.57.

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.