Empirical Finance LLC Grows Stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,001 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of EL. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.3% during the 2nd 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 valued at $756,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 30.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 639 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 22.3% in the second quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 844 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 4.6% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on EL shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.90.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,578,114. This trade represents a 6.46 % 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 over the last three months. 12.78% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE EL opened at $63.75 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $22.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.84, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $84.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.53. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a one year low of $62.29 and a one year high of $159.75.

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

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.