Insigneo Advisory Services LLC Acquires Shares of 3,154 The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Insigneo Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 3,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,014,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,025,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,344,210 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,382,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,078,406,000 after acquiring an additional 8,930,011 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 7,858,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $589,205,000 after acquiring an additional 2,458,379 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 148.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,481,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $410,984,000 after acquiring an additional 3,278,632 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,996,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,630,000 after acquiring an additional 954,493 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EL. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of 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. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $77.00 to $67.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

EL opened at $54.37 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.34. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $19.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.10. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.37 and a 52-week high of $149.91.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. Estée Lauder Companies had a negative net margin of 4.61% and a positive return on equity of 16.82%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend 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.