Freemont Management S.A. Decreases Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Freemont Management S.A. cut its holdings in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 82.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,000 shares during the quarter. Freemont Management S.A.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Terra Alpha Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter worth $1,356,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 308.4% in the fourth quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC now owns 10,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $777,000 after buying an additional 7,821 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 91,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,866,000 after buying an additional 12,192 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 738 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 69.7% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 35,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,674,000 after buying an additional 14,649 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EL has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, December 27th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $82.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 43,000 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $66.35 per share, with a total value of $2,853,050.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 430,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,583,580. The trade was a 11.09 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Akhil Shrivastava bought 700 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $65.79 per share, with a total value of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at $156,645.99. This represents a 41.64 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EL opened at $68.97 on Tuesday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $155.73. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.49. 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 firm has a market cap of $24.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.08.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. 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.