Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $3.53 Million Stock Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund trimmed its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 47,132 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,900 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $3,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MONECO Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 4th quarter worth $223,000. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 5,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 112,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,445,000 after acquiring an additional 32,259 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 798.7% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 460,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,504,000 after purchasing an additional 408,975 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $74.69 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.29 and a twelve month high of $159.54. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.30, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.03.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -71.79%.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. B. Riley decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

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.