8,367 Shares in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Bought by Bellwether Advisors LLC

Bellwether Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EL. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,938,000 after buying an additional 1,078,926 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,320 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 1,127.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,059,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,580,000 after buying an additional 972,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 991,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,535,000 after purchasing an additional 33,672 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $64.63 on Wednesday. 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 Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year high of $159.75. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.05.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 471.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on EL shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.90.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 77,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $64.01 per share, for a total transaction of $4,960,775.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 234,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,010,345. This trade represents a 49.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,296 shares of company stock worth $1,423,366 over the last quarter. 12.78% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.