Impax Asset Management Group plc Buys 14,688 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 83,498 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,688 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $8,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 6.3% in the second quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 7,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $756,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 22.3% in the 2nd quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on EL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $113.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.90.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

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

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:EL opened at $63.79 on Friday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.29 and a 12-month high of $159.75. The company has a market capitalization of $22.90 billion, a PE ratio of 113.91, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $85.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is 471.43%.

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