Everence Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,360 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Everence Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 47.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,580 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,360 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays upped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 4.9 %

EL stock opened at $144.81 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.07. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.22 and a fifty-two week high of $260.46. 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 cap of $51.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.07.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $4.28 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

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 $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.