The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Sold by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P trimmed its holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,280 shares of the company’s stock after selling 182 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $1,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 11,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $839,000 after acquiring an additional 2,483 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 167,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,566,000 after purchasing an additional 43,619 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 352,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,408,000 after purchasing an additional 17,519 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 192.0% during the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,092,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $231,858,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,188 shares during the period. Finally, Anthracite Investment Company Inc. purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $438,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EL. 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 research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 43,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 in the company, valued at $28,583,580. The trade was a 11.09 % increase 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, CFO Akhil Shrivastava purchased 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $65.79 per share, with a total value of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at $156,645.99. The trade was a 41.64 % 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 Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $65.42 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $72.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.14. The company has a market capitalization of $23.48 billion, a PE ratio of -33.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.29 and a 12-month high of $155.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given 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 was Friday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.