Argent Trust Co Lowers Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Argent Trust Co decreased its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,314 shares of the company’s stock after selling 538 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EL. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 113,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,518,000 after purchasing an additional 5,220 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 274.5% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 178,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,893,000 after acquiring an additional 130,504 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 3,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $296,000. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $77.00 to $67.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava bought 700 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 2,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $156,645.99. This trade represents a 41.64 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 43,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 430,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,583,580. This represents a 11.09 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EL opened at $55.19 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.73. 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 Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a one year low of $48.37 and a one year high of $149.91. The firm has a market cap of $19.81 billion, a PE ratio of -28.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is -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.