Teacher Retirement System of Texas Invests $1.03 Million in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 13,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,032,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Centre Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,585,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 141,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,392,000 after purchasing an additional 45,687 shares in the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 10,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $771,000 after purchasing an additional 3,524 shares in the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 729.4% in the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 47,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 41,773 shares during the period. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $352,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on EL. UBS Group raised their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of EL opened at $65.42 on Friday. 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 Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.29 and a 1 year high of $155.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $72.02 and a 200-day moving average of $77.14. The company has a market cap of $23.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted 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 negative net margin of 4.61% and a positive return on equity of 16.82%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Estée Lauder Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

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

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.