Rodgers Brothers Inc. Raises Stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Rodgers Brothers Inc. boosted its holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 24.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 55,914 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,879 shares during the quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $4,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter worth $251,304,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 11,026.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,343,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,704,000 after purchasing an additional 3,313,557 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,014,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,025,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,344,210 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 192.0% during the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,092,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,858,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 81.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,971,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330,840 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on EL. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays reduced their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $71.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. CICC Research initiated coverage on Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, December 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $65.42 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.55, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.09. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.29 and a 52 week high of $155.73.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently -71.79%.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

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

Estée Lauder Companies 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.