Financial Counselors Inc. Decreases Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Financial Counselors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 15.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,530 shares of the company’s stock after selling 455 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Armistice Capital LLC raised its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 111.8% in the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 182,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,398,000 after purchasing an additional 96,239 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,600,000 after buying an additional 2,533,006 shares in the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 40.9% in the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 111,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,067,000 after buying an additional 32,215 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter worth about $6,043,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in 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 worth $211,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EL has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $113.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.57.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 75,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

NYSE EL opened at $72.12 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $25.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 1.05. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.29 and a 1-year high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $81.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.92.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently 471.43%.

Estée Lauder Companies Company 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.