Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Earns Outperform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $131.00 price target on the stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America cut Estée Lauder Companies from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price target for the company from $140.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $175.00 to $135.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a market perform rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Monday. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $124.39.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of EL stock opened at $91.44 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $101.24 and a 200-day moving average of $126.48. Estée Lauder Companies has a one year low of $86.05 and a one year high of $165.76. The stock has a market cap of $32.79 billion, a PE ratio of 51.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.99.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.39. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 13.08% and a net margin of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. Estée Lauder Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 148.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jane Lauder sold 14,976 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.26, for a total transaction of $1,815,989.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,958,990.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 12.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 113.7% during the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 156,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,900,000 after purchasing an additional 83,320 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the 1st quarter valued at $997,000. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $558,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,477.8% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 566,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,804,000 after purchasing an additional 550,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 367,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,608,000 after purchasing an additional 5,915 shares in the last quarter. 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.