The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Position Reduced by Edgewood Management LLC

Edgewood Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 99.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,750 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,896,962 shares during the quarter. Edgewood Management LLC’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $2,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $891,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 10,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $239,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 52.6% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,559,000 after purchasing an additional 5,721 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EL. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

NYSE EL opened at $66.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.90. The company has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 119.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 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.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its earnings results 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 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 250.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 77,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.01 per share, for a total transaction of $4,960,775.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 234,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,010,345. The trade was a 49.36 % 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.