King Luther Capital Management Corp Has $4.28 Million Stock Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lessened its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 56.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 57,127 shares of the company’s stock after selling 73,150 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $4,283,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Centre Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $8,585,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 47.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 141,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,392,000 after acquiring an additional 45,687 shares during the period. Harrell Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 10,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 3,524 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares during the period. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 729.4% during the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 47,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,735,000 after acquiring an additional 41,773 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on EL. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 4.4 %

NYSE:EL opened at $66.53 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year high of $159.54. The company has a market cap of $23.88 billion, a PE ratio of -34.12, a P/E/G ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.30. Estée Lauder Companies had a negative net margin of 4.61% and a positive return on equity of 16.82%. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -71.79%.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava purchased 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 2,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $156,645.99. This trade represents a 41.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 43,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $66.35 per share, for a total transaction of $2,853,050.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 430,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,583,580. This trade represents a 11.09 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

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.