Sei Investments Co. Boosts Stock Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 568.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 150,164 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 127,699 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $11,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EL. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,575,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,054,314,000 after purchasing an additional 913,470 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,996,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,630,000 after buying an additional 954,493 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,679,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $464,587,000 after buying an additional 70,307 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 11,026.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,343,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,704,000 after buying an additional 3,313,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,971,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,330,840 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava acquired 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $65.79 per share, with a total value of $46,053.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $156,645.99. This represents a 41.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 43,000 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $66.35 per share, for a total transaction of $2,853,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 430,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,583,580. This trade represents a 11.09 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 2.3 %

EL stock opened at $65.42 on Friday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month high of $155.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.14.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently -71.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of 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. CICC Research started coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, December 27th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $82.00 price objective on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $76.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.00.

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.