The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) CEO Fabrizio Freda Sells 10,969 Shares

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 0.8 %

EL opened at $65.89 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $88.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.88. The firm has a market cap of $23.64 billion, a PE ratio of 117.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.05. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $63.36 and a twelve month 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 250.00%.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,439 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,188,832,000 after buying an additional 1,250,555 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,926 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $82,664,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on EL. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $113.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. B. Riley decreased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.90.

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.