Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Boosts Stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 19.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,418 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,745 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $4,455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. American Assets Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $487,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $88,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 99,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,472,000 after acquiring an additional 32,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, January 31st. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL stock opened at $66.64 on Friday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $155.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.17, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.84.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a negative net margin of 4.61% and a positive return on equity of 16.82%. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is presently -71.79%.

Insider Activity

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 43,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $66.35 per share, for a total transaction of $2,853,050.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 430,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,583,580. The trade was a 11.09 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Akhil Shrivastava bought 700 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $65.79 per share, with a total value of $46,053.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 2,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $156,645.99. The trade was a 41.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

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.