Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL)

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $100.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 16.69% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on EL. Citigroup downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.95.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of EL traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $85.70. The company had a trading volume of 866,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,106,880. Estée Lauder Companies has a 1-year low of $62.29 and a 1-year high of $159.75. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.19. The stock has a market cap of $30.76 billion, a PE ratio of 153.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 1.02.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 75,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 103.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 60,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,285,000 after purchasing an additional 30,562 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 24.5% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,304,000 after acquiring an additional 6,102 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,868,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 11,769.4% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 52,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,607,000 after purchasing an additional 52,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 47,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,732,000 after purchasing an additional 3,065 shares during 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.