Slow Capital Inc. Lowers Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Slow Capital Inc. cut its holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,574 shares of the company’s stock after selling 243 shares during the quarter. Slow Capital Inc.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $1,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,626,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,692,479,000 after acquiring an additional 140,488 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,009,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,739,070,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167,553 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $767,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387,271 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,129,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,015,189,000 after buying an additional 77,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,739,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $921,514,000 after buying an additional 224,451 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Monday. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $136.93. 2,178,576 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,981,172. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $138.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $49.09 billion, a PE ratio of 105.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.07. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1-year low of $102.22 and a 1-year high of $260.46.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.19 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 3.08%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 203.08%.

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