The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) CFO Purchases $46,053.00 in Stock

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) CFO Akhil Shrivastava acquired 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $65.79 per share, with a total value of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at $156,645.99. This trade represents a 41.64 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Estée Lauder Companies stock traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $65.09. 4,662,856 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,464,049. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $76.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.26. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.29 and a 12 month high of $159.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 250.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on EL shares. HSBC cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,575,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,054,314,000 after buying an additional 913,470 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $570,600,000 after buying an additional 2,533,006 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,996,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,630,000 after buying an additional 954,493 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,679,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $464,587,000 after purchasing an additional 70,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 81.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,971,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330,840 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.