Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $140.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $164.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $145.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Monday, April 15th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $160.92.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

NYSE:EL opened at $132.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $145.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.15. Estée Lauder Companies has a 52-week low of $102.22 and a 52-week high of $209.64. The firm has a market cap of $47.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.69, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.07.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.49. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Estée Lauder Companies will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.32%.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $518,975,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter valued at about $291,171,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,720,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $537,850,000 after buying an additional 1,512,982 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $767,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carmignac Gestion increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 1,908.0% in the 4th quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 1,195,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,895,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136,201 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.