Quarry LP Grows Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 141.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,884 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,451 shares during the quarter. Quarry LP’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,439 shares in 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 worth $402,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,926 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 1,127.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,059,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,580,000 after acquiring an additional 972,799 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE:EL opened at $79.31 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $80.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.96. The company has a market capitalization of $28.47 billion, a PE ratio of 141.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.29 and a 52-week high of $159.75.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 250.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies 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 value of $743,259.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 77,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 approximately $15,010,345. This represents a 49.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on EL. HSBC lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.57.

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.