Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Takes $848,000 Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $848,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,439 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,188,832,000 after buying an additional 1,250,555 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078,926 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $82,664,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,578,114. This represents a 6.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. This trade represents a 20.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,296 shares of company stock valued at $1,423,366 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 3.1 %

NYSE EL opened at $64.82 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $159.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.68. The stock has a market cap of $23.27 billion, a PE ratio of 115.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.05.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 471.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on EL shares. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on 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. B. Riley lowered their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. HSBC cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.90.

Estée Lauder Companies 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.