Wall Street Zen Downgrades Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) to Hold

Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

EL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Estee Lauder Companies from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Estee Lauder Companies from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.67.

Estee Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $94.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $34.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 192.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $93.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.29. Estee Lauder Companies has a 52-week low of $66.22 and a 52-week high of $121.64.

Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 19th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.55 billion. Estee Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.21% and a return on equity of 23.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.09 EPS. Estee Lauder Companies has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.100-3.350 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Estee Lauder Companies will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Estee Lauder Companies news, Director Paul Fribourg sold 58,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total transaction of $5,693,860.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 417,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,966,341. The trade was a 12.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Rashida La Lande sold 7,766 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.32, for a total value of $802,383.12. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 14,357 shares in the company, valued at $1,483,365.24. The trade was a 35.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 75,105 shares of company stock worth $7,423,185. Corporate insiders own 13.05% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estee Lauder Companies

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Estee Lauder Companies by 950.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 13,843,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $993,567,000 after buying an additional 12,526,471 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 7,837,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $820,717,000 after buying an additional 83,857 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Estee Lauder Companies by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,497,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $785,105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,384,678 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Estee Lauder Companies by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,308,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $658,020,000 after acquiring an additional 331,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its stake in shares of Estee Lauder Companies by 4,281.3% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 4,094,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,094,761,000 after acquiring an additional 4,001,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

About Estee Lauder Companies

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc is a global beauty company that develops, manufactures and markets prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance and hair-care products. Its portfolio includes Estée Lauder, Clinique, M·A·C, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Aveda, Tom Ford Beauty and The Ordinary, among other brands.

Founded in 1946 by Estée and Joseph Lauder, the company began with four skincare products and has expanded into a broad international beauty business. Its products are sold through department and specialty stores, freestanding stores, e-commerce platforms, travel retail locations and other distribution channels.

Estée Lauder Companies serves consumers in markets around the world, including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.