DA Davidson Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL)

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at DA Davidson in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $81.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson’s target price suggests a potential upside of 21.18% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on EL. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. B. Riley dropped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE EL opened at $66.85 on Wednesday. Estée Lauder Companies has a 12 month low of $62.29 and a 12 month high of $159.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $83.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.90. The stock has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 119.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total value of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,578,114. This represents a 6.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EL. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $891,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 10,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $239,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 47.8% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 103,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,951,000 after buying an additional 33,459 shares during the period. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.