American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stock Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 11,026.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,343,607 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,313,557 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $250,704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EL. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $1,659,000 after purchasing an additional 7,014 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,452,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,032,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 10,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $523,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lowered 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $67.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.29 and a 12 month high of $155.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.07 billion, a PE ratio of -34.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.01.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is -71.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava purchased 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 43,000 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $66.35 per share, with a total value of $2,853,050.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 430,800 shares in the company, valued at $28,583,580. This represents a 11.09 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.