The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Sold by River Global Investors LLP

River Global Investors LLP cut its holdings in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 24.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,019 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,646 shares during the quarter. River Global Investors LLP’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Centre Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,585,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 141,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,392,000 after purchasing an additional 45,687 shares in the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 10,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $771,000 after purchasing an additional 3,524 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,533,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 729.4% in the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 47,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 41,773 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on EL. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Friday, January 31st. CICC Research started coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, December 27th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $82.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.00.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 43,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $66.35 per share, with a total value of $2,853,050.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 430,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,583,580. This represents a 11.09 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Akhil Shrivastava acquired 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $156,645.99. This represents a 41.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL opened at $73.32 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $74.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.61. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month high of $159.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.32 billion, a PE ratio of -37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently -71.79%.

Estée Lauder Companies 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.