Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Given New $81.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $85.00 to $81.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 23.12% from the stock’s previous close.

EL has been the topic of several other reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Tuesday. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. 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. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.05.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 5.3 %

NYSE EL opened at $65.79 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.39. 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 has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year high of $159.54. The firm has a market cap of $23.62 billion, a PE ratio of 117.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.03.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $4 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 297.0% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

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.