Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Shares Gap Up to $145.04

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $145.04, but opened at $152.28. Estée Lauder Companies shares last traded at $150.03, with a volume of 408,164 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on EL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $165.63.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $55.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $142.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.33. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 3.08%. The business had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 203.08%.

Institutional Trading of Estée Lauder Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,435,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,842,514,000 after purchasing an additional 809,370 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,019,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,967,607,000 after purchasing an additional 184,641 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,009,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,739,070,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167,553 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $767,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387,271 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,867,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,912,000 after purchasing an additional 146,006 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.