Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 403 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,107 shares of the company’s stock after selling 403 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 68.7% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 297.0% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 476 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EL. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of EL opened at $65.42 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.14. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year high of $155.73. The company has a market capitalization of $23.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.55, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced 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 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

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

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.