Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Purchases New Stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 84,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,405,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 7.5% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 2.3% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $798,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the third quarter worth $848,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.3% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 38,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 21.3% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 83,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,324,000 after purchasing an additional 14,688 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,423,714.49. This represents a 20.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,296 shares of company stock valued at $1,423,366. Company insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $63.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.91, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $84.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.85. 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 current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 471.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EL has been the subject of several research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on 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 research 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 a consensus target price of $100.90.

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.