JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Price Target to $61.00

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) had its price objective cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $72.00 to $61.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on EL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $71.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.67.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $55.19 on Friday. Estée Lauder Companies has a 12 month low of $48.37 and a 12 month high of $149.91. The company has a market cap of $19.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $66.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a negative net margin of 4.61% and a positive return on equity of 16.82%. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is -71.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava purchased 700 shares of the company’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 purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $156,645.99. This represents a 41.64 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 43,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $66.35 per share, with a total value of $2,853,050.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 430,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,583,580. The trade was a 11.09 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Wealth Services increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 1,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 158 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, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.