Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 617 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,899 shares of the company’s stock after selling 617 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EL. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $891,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 10,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,687,000 after buying an additional 1,755 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $239,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 47.8% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 103,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,951,000 after buying an additional 33,459 shares during the period. Finally, Pitcairn Co. boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 17,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,643,000 after purchasing an additional 3,027 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on EL. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.90.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $64.59 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.05. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.29 and a 52-week high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $84.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.84.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 250.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,578,114. This represents a 6.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,296 shares of company stock worth $1,423,366 in the last quarter. 12.78% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Estée Lauder Companies Company 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.