Alpha Family Trust Makes New Investment in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Alpha Family Trust acquired a new position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EL. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,439 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 1,250,555 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078,926 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $82,664,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. This trade represents a 20.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total value of $315,963.41. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,578,114. The trade was a 6.46 % 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 valued at $1,423,366. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EL. Hsbc Global Res lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. B. Riley decreased their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” 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 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.90.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of EL opened at $63.75 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 market capitalization of $22.88 billion, a PE ratio of 113.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its 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. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 471.43%.

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.