Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Buys 154 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 47.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 479 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $36,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Wealth Services increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 1,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 476 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 639 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 43,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $66.35 per share, with a total value of $2,853,050.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 430,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,583,580. This represents a 11.09 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akhil Shrivastava purchased 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $65.79 per share, with a total value of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 2,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $156,645.99. The trade was a 41.64 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $69.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.69, a P/E/G ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $74.01 and a 200 day moving average of $79.22. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $159.54.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is -71.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on EL shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $71.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut 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. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.