314 Shares in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Acquired by Ashton Thomas Securities LLC

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EL. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,439 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,188,832,000 after buying an additional 1,250,555 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,926 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,320 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $82,664,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EL opened at $64.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $85.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.68. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two 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.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 250.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. This trade represents a 20.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,296 shares of company stock worth $1,423,366. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $136.00 to $117.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.90.

Estée Lauder Companies 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.