The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Acquired by Paloma Partners Management Co

Paloma Partners Management Co lifted its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 729.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,500 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 41,773 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $4,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,600,000 after buying an additional 2,533,006 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000,000 after buying an additional 1,920,439 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,926 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,320 shares during the period. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1,127.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,059,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,580,000 after purchasing an additional 972,799 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $113.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. HSBC lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 77,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.01 per share, for a total transaction of $4,960,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,010,345. This trade represents a 49.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 2.5 %

EL stock opened at $72.12 on Monday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $81.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.92. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.29 and a 12 month high of $159.75. The company has a market cap of $25.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.79, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 1.05.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 471.43%.

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.