B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes $1.99 Million Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 19,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,989,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,439 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,938,000 after buying an additional 1,078,926 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,320 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter worth approximately $82,664,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,128,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EL shares. Citigroup lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $66.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a PE ratio of 119.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $83.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.90. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.29 and a 1-year high of $159.75.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 471.43%.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 77,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.01 per share, for a total transaction of $4,960,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,010,345. This trade represents a 49.36 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

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.