The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Sold by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC decreased its holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,452,568 shares of the company’s stock after selling 482,886 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $543,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $570,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,926 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,320 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,338,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,443,000 after acquiring an additional 35,364 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped 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 report on Monday, November 4th. 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $73.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 132.07, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $81.69 and a 200-day moving average of $96.89. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.29 and a 52 week high of $159.75.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 471.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.