Quest Partners LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Quest Partners LLC reduced its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 26.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,301 shares of the company’s stock after selling 472 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. PARK CIRCLE Co bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 63.9% in the second quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 431 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EL. Hsbc Global Res cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 note on Friday, November 1st. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:EL opened at $73.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.55 billion, a PE ratio of 132.07, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $81.69 and its 200 day moving average is $96.89. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.48 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 paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 471.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 77,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 234,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,010,345. This represents a 49.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.