Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Stock Rating Lowered by Wells Fargo & Company

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. They presently have a $72.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $105.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 0.59% from the stock’s current price.

EL has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $140.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.73.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Estée Lauder Companies stock traded down $15.57 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $71.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,163,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,267,807. Estée Lauder Companies has a 1-year low of $63.50 and a 1-year high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $91.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.18. The company has a market cap of $25.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.94, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.01.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.07 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total value of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at $4,578,114. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at $1,423,714.49. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,578,114. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during 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. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the first quarter worth about $291,171,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,188,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,555 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078,926 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,320 shares during the period. 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.