The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Sold by Ninety One North America Inc.

Ninety One North America Inc. reduced its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 239,572 shares of the company’s stock after selling 44,290 shares during the period. Estée Lauder Companies accounts for approximately 1.7% of Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Ninety One North America Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Estée Lauder Companies worth $35,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $858,070,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,720,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $537,850,000 after buying an additional 1,512,982 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $767,730,000 after buying an additional 1,387,271 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,009,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,739,070,000 after buying an additional 1,167,553 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 132.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,735,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,901,000 after purchasing an additional 988,829 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EL. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

EL traded up $6.07 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $144.11. The company had a trading volume of 2,154,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,656,273. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $51.66 billion, a PE ratio of 109.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.07. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.22 and a twelve month high of $260.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.03.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.19 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 9.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 203.08%.

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, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.