US Bancorp DE Decreases Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

US Bancorp DE cut its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 82,960 shares of the company’s stock after selling 37,425 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $8,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 28.5% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 53,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,310,000 after purchasing an additional 11,966 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the first quarter valued at about $166,000. Haverford Trust Co increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 2.3% during the first quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 3,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 27.5% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 26,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,092,000 after acquiring an additional 5,723 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $113.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.52.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

NYSE EL opened at $66.58 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $90.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.98. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $63.36 and a 52 week high of $159.75. The stock has a market cap of $23.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently 471.43%.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,578,114. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,578,114. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.