GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 770 Shares of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 27.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,620 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Estee Lauder Companies were worth $239,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Estee 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Estee Lauder Companies by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,382,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,078,406,000 after buying an additional 8,930,011 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its holdings in Estee Lauder Companies by 45.5% in the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 7,858,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $589,205,000 after buying an additional 2,458,379 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in Estee Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $554,509,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 148.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,481,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $410,984,000 after acquiring an additional 3,278,632 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on EL shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $77.00 to $67.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Estee Lauder Companies from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Estee Lauder Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.45.

Estee Lauder Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:EL opened at $88.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.89 billion, a PE ratio of -36.63, a P/E/G ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 1.17. The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.37 and a 52-week high of $107.57.

Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. Estee Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 15.60% and a negative net margin of 5.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Estee Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Estee Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is -57.85%.

About Estee 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.