Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Increases Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. increased its position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 999,517 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 325,722 shares during the quarter. Estée Lauder Companies makes up about 2.1% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. owned approximately 0.28% of Estée Lauder Companies worth $99,641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on EL. B. Riley dropped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” 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 for the company. in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 77,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $64.01 per share, with a total value of $4,960,775.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 234,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,010,345. This trade represents a 49.36 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EL traded up $0.93 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $73.90. The stock had a trading volume of 181,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,508,348. The firm has a market cap of $26.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.30, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.05. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $159.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $82.54 and a 200-day moving average of $97.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company 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 $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 471.43%.

About Estée Lauder Companies

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.