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

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

EL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler raised Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $114.00 in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $136.00 to $117.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.27.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

NYSE EL opened at $85.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $30.48 billion, a PE ratio of 47.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.00. Estée Lauder Companies has a 52-week low of $82.39 and a 52-week high of $159.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.95.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.39. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.07 EPS. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,423,714.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,578,114. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,188,832,000 after buying an additional 1,250,555 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,163,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $487,612,000 after purchasing an additional 140,416 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 12.0% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,962,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,262,000 after purchasing an additional 318,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in 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 worth $211,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,439 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

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.