817 Shares in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Bought by Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1,900.0% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $179.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America upgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 0.3 %

EL traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $144.41. 2,324,673 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,137,922. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $51.77 billion, a PE ratio of 111.07, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $146.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.08. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.33. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 3.08%. The company had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. 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.