The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.35

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th.

Estée Lauder Companies has raised its dividend by an average of 21.0% annually over the last three years. Estée Lauder Companies has a payout ratio of 89.7% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities research analysts expect Estée Lauder Companies to earn $2.54 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.1%.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $73.93 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $26.54 billion, a PE ratio of 132.02, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. Estée Lauder Companies has a 1 year low of $62.29 and a 1 year high of $159.75. The company’s 50-day moving average is $81.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.05.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Estée Lauder Companies will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $113.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 77,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.01 per share, with a total value of $4,960,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,010,345. The trade was a 49.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.