The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Sold by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 22.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 67,310 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,938 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $6,710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,989,000. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 12.7% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 2,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Zevin Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 9.1% during the third quarter. Zevin Asset Management LLC now owns 80,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,979,000 after buying an additional 6,676 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 691,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,946,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, S&CO Inc. increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 71.2% in the 3rd quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 58,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,850,000 after acquiring an additional 24,414 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE:EL opened at $69.93 on Friday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.29 and a 52 week high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $25.10 billion, a PE ratio of 124.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.26.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 471.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EL. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $105.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $113.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. B. Riley cut their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at $4,578,114. The trade was a 6.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 77,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $64.01 per share, with a total value of $4,960,775.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 234,500 shares in the company, valued at $15,010,345. This represents a 49.36 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.