Ninety One North America Inc. Reduces Stock Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Ninety One North America Inc. lessened its position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 15.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 239,572 shares of the company’s stock after selling 44,290 shares during the quarter. Estée Lauder Companies comprises 1.7% of Ninety One North America Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $35,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,626,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,692,479,000 after buying an additional 140,488 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,009,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,739,070,000 after buying an additional 1,167,553 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $767,730,000 after buying an additional 1,387,271 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1.9% in the first 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. boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in the first 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EL. Barclays upped their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $146.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL stock traded up $6.07 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $144.11. The company had a trading volume of 2,154,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,656,273. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $146.48 and a 200-day moving average of $138.03. The company has a market capitalization of $51.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.21, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.07. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 12-month low of $102.22 and a 12-month 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. The business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 203.08%.

Estée Lauder Companies Company 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, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.