King Luther Capital Management Corp Has $12.99 Million Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

King Luther Capital Management Corp trimmed its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 29.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 130,277 shares of the company’s stock after selling 53,677 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $12,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EL. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 111.8% in the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 182,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,398,000 after purchasing an additional 96,239 shares in the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 40.9% during the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 111,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,067,000 after buying an additional 32,215 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after buying an additional 1,920,439 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter valued at about $6,043,000. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter worth about $558,000. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group cut their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered 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 report on Tuesday, August 20th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $66.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 119.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.05. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.29 and a 52-week high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.90.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 471.43%.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

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