The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 7,220,000 shares, a decrease of 8.1% from the November 15th total of 7,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,890,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at $20,045,982.88. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $64.93 per share, with a total value of $4,902,215.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EL. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. PARK CIRCLE Co acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Hsbc Global Res cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE EL opened at $78.19 on Wednesday. Estée Lauder Companies has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month high of $159.75. The business’s fifty day moving average is $77.60 and its 200 day moving average is $91.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a market cap of $28.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.05.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 250.00%.

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