The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Sold by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its holdings in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 29.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 181,385 shares of the company’s stock after selling 75,113 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $26,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,626,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,692,479,000 after purchasing an additional 140,488 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $767,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387,271 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,483,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $648,085,000 after purchasing an additional 254,198 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,720,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 1.7% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,080,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $445,265,000 after purchasing an additional 51,039 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Monday. Citigroup raised 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL opened at $147.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $52.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.40, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $146.61 and a 200-day moving average of $138.07. 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 Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $102.22 and a 52 week high of $255.80.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.19 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 3.08%. The business’s revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.