Rakuten Securities Inc. Purchases New Shares in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Keybank National Association OH increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 11.3% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 4,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 517.6% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 46,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,820,000 after purchasing an additional 39,082 shares during the period. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 221.9% in the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 62,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,075,000 after purchasing an additional 43,280 shares during the period. YCG LLC increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. YCG LLC now owns 178,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,068,000 after purchasing an additional 9,619 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 37.1% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,411,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,776,000 after purchasing an additional 381,860 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on EL. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Citigroup upgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $179.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL opened at $144.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.07. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.22 and a twelve month high of $260.46. The company has a 50 day moving average of $146.56 and a 200-day moving average of $138.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.19 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 9.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 203.08%.

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