Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Buys 14,649 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 69.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,660 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 14,649 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $2,674,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Wealth Services grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 1,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.7% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on EL shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.00.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava purchased 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at $156,645.99. This represents a 41.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 43,000 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 430,800 shares in the company, valued at $28,583,580. The trade was a 11.09 % 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 Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE EL opened at $65.83 on Thursday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.29 and a 52 week high of $155.73. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $72.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market cap of $23.63 billion, a PE ratio of -33.76, 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.