Vontobel Holding Ltd. Reduces Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 42.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 202,280 shares of the company’s stock after selling 146,893 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Estée Lauder Companies worth $15,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Wealth Services grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 1,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 476 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 30.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 639 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Biltmore Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 7.8% during the third quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 2,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE EL opened at $68.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $24.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.28, a PEG ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.29 and a 52 week high of $159.54.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a negative net margin of 4.61% and a positive return on equity of 16.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently -71.79%.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava bought 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $156,645.99. This trade represents a 41.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 75,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $64.93 per share, with a total value of $4,902,215.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 310,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,128,300. The trade was a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 119,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,801,318 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

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.