Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Raises Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 47.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 509,393 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 164,783 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC owned 0.14% of Estée Lauder Companies worth $38,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the third quarter worth $31,000. Ecofi Investissements SA acquired a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter valued at $53,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 752.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 580 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 75,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $64.93 per share, with a total value of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EL. Hsbc Global Res cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $113.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.50.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:EL traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $74.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,287,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,695,269. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.29 and a 1 year high of $159.75. The company has a market cap of $26.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 132.59, a P/E/G ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $72.72 and a 200 day moving average of $87.30. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 250.00%.

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.