Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 23.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,996,404 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 954,493 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 1.39% of Estée Lauder Companies worth $374,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EL. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 1,931.3% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 6,296 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 22.7% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 349,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,809,000 after acquiring an additional 64,688 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 676.9% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 10,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Friday, December 27th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $82.00 price objective on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.00.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava purchased 700 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $156,645.99. This represents a 41.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 77,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $64.01 per share, with a total value of $4,960,775.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 234,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,010,345. This represents a 49.36 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 196,700 shares of company stock worth $12,762,093. 12.78% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of EL stock opened at $69.04 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.41, a PEG ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.34. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month high of $159.54.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a negative net margin of 4.61% and a positive return on equity of 16.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is -71.79%.

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