Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Sells 1,593,675 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lowered its position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 97.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 48,796 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,593,675 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $4,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 30.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 639 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,599,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 23.7% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 34,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after acquiring an additional 6,569 shares during the last quarter. River Global Investors LLP lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 21.3% in the 3rd quarter. River Global Investors LLP now owns 14,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,462,000 after acquiring an additional 2,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 85,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,526,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EL shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. CICC Research started coverage on Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Friday, December 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $82.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 43,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $66.35 per share, with a total value of $2,853,050.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 430,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,583,580. The trade was a 11.09 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Akhil Shrivastava acquired 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at $156,645.99. This represents a 41.64 % 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 Stock Up 2.5 %

EL stock opened at $73.32 on Monday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $159.54. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $74.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.53. 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 company has a market capitalization of $26.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.