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

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th.

Estée Lauder Companies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.1% annually over the last three years. Estée Lauder Companies has a payout ratio of 53.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Estée Lauder Companies to earn $2.55 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 54.9%.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 5.3 %

Estée Lauder Companies stock traded down $3.68 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $65.79. The stock had a trading volume of 9,116,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,140,892. Estée Lauder Companies has a 52-week low of $62.29 and a 52-week high of $159.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $77.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.52. 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 stock has a market cap of $23.62 billion, a PE ratio of 117.49, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.03.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EL has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,128,300. The trade was a 32.20 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.