LGT Capital Partners LTD. Has $30.78 Million Stock Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. reduced its position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 308,792 shares of the company’s stock after selling 395,754 shares during the period. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $30,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EL. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. PARK CIRCLE Co acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EL shares. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. 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. Evercore ISI cut 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. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.90.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 1.3 %

EL opened at $64.59 on Tuesday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.29 and a 1-year high of $159.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a market cap of $23.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $84.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.84.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,423,714.49. The trade was a 20.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,296 shares of company stock valued at $1,423,366 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

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.