The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank cut its position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 659,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $49,442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EL. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 81.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,971,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,330,840 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 80.8% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,934,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,510,000 after acquiring an additional 1,310,900 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 695.4% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,123,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,994,000 after acquiring an additional 982,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1,127.5% in the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,059,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,580,000 after acquiring an additional 972,799 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 2.7 %

Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $66.64 on Monday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $155.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $23.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.17, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.65.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -71.79%.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava purchased 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $156,645.99. The trade was a 41.64 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 43,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $66.35 per share, for a total transaction of $2,853,050.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 430,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,583,580. This trade represents a 11.09 % 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 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.