Quantbot Technologies LP Sells 22,401 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Quantbot Technologies LP trimmed its position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 22.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 79,372 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,401 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $5,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Centre Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,585,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 45,687 shares in the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 3,524 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in 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 buying an additional 2,533,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 729.4% during the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 47,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 41,773 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava bought 700 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $65.79 per share, with a total value of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at $156,645.99. The trade was a 41.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 43,000 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $66.35 per share, for a total transaction of $2,853,050.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 430,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,583,580. The trade was a 11.09 % 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on EL. Barclays decreased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $71.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 1.4 %

Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $67.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $24.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.38, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $155.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $72.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.37.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently -71.79%.

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.