Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Decreases Stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lessened its position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 58.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,916 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,681 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $1,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the 4th quarter worth $518,975,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $291,171,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,188,832,000 after buying an additional 1,250,555 shares during the period. Carmignac Gestion lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 1,908.0% in the fourth quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 1,195,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,895,000 after buying an additional 1,136,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,022,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $442,087,000 after buying an additional 742,449 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,578,114. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,423,714.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total value of $315,963.41. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at $4,578,114. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EL. Piper Sandler raised shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $95.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Estée Lauder Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.77.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE EL traded up $1.74 during trading on Friday, reaching $91.66. 2,653,517 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,954,609. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 12-month low of $86.05 and a 12-month high of $165.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $32.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.19.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 16.91%. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 148.32%.

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, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.