LPL Financial LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

LPL Financial LLC cut its position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 51,699 shares of the company’s stock after selling 675 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $3,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $6,077,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 568.4% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 150,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,256,000 after buying an additional 127,699 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 11,026.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,343,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,704,000 after buying an additional 3,313,557 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 22,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,659,000 after buying an additional 7,014 shares during the period. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,452,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 43,000 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $66.35 per share, with a total value of $2,853,050.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 430,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,583,580. This represents a 11.09 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akhil Shrivastava purchased 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 2,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $156,645.99. The trade was a 41.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $77.00 to $67.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays decreased their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $71.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.52.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of EL opened at $53.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.31, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $66.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.98.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently -71.79%.

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.