The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Stock Holdings Trimmed by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 330,915 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,311 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.09% of Estée Lauder Companies worth $48,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 0.8% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $767,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387,271 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,483,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $648,085,000 after purchasing an additional 254,198 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,720,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512,982 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,080,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,265,000 after purchasing an additional 51,039 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price 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. StockNews.com cut Estée Lauder Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $146.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of EL stock opened at $147.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $52.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.35, a PEG ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $146.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.16. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.22 and a fifty-two week high of $253.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 203.08%.

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.