Cullen Investment Group LTD. Makes New $1.10 Million Investment in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. acquired a new position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,626,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,692,479,000 after purchasing an additional 140,488 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,009,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,739,070,000 after buying an additional 1,167,553 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $767,730,000 after buying an additional 1,387,271 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 1.9% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,129,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,015,189,000 after buying an additional 77,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,739,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $921,514,000 after buying an additional 224,451 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:EL opened at $137.23 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $146.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.08. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.22 and a fifty-two week high of $260.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $49.19 billion, a PE ratio of 105.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.07.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.33. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 3.08%. The firm had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 203.08%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Monday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.00.

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.