J. Stern & Co. LLP Purchases 7,919 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 77.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,175 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,919 shares during the period. Estée Lauder Companies accounts for about 0.2% of J. Stern & Co. LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. J. Stern & Co. LLP’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $1,812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 367,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,608,000 after purchasing an additional 5,915 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 24,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,395 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 33,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,218,000 after buying an additional 3,506 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 419.6% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 20,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,028,000 after buying an additional 16,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 395,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,893,000 after buying an additional 7,798 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 77,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $64.01 per share, with a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 12.78% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on EL. HSBC cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $113.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

NYSE EL traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $73.24. 444,519 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,509,248. 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 simple moving average of $82.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.63. 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 market cap of $26.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.05.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The company’s revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. On average, analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.