The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Purchased by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 97.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 160,344 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 79,278 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $15,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.3% during the second quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 2.1% during the second quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 7,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $756,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 30.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 639 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 22.3% during the second quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 844 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, City Holding Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 2.1% during the second quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 7,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $846,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on EL. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.90.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $64.81 on Wednesday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month 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 capitalization of $23.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.36.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 471.43%.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,128,300. This represents a 32.20 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total value of $315,963.41. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,578,114. This represents a 6.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,296 shares of company stock valued at $1,423,366. 12.78% of the stock is currently 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.