LGT Capital Partners LTD. Sells 395,754 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. decreased its holdings in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 56.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 308,792 shares of the company’s stock after selling 395,754 shares during the period. LGT Capital Partners LTD. owned about 0.09% of Estée Lauder Companies worth $30,783,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. PARK CIRCLE Co bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at $4,578,114. This represents a 6.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,296 shares of company stock valued at $1,423,366. 12.78% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. B. Riley dropped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.90.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL stock opened at $64.59 on Tuesday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.29 and a 12-month high of $159.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $84.21 and a 200-day moving average of $99.84.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 471.43%.

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