TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Buys 432 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,544 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $416,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Peterson Wealth Services raised its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 1,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 476 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.7% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EL. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $71.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Friday, December 27th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $82.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Thursday. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of EL stock opened at $59.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.10. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.37 and a 12-month high of $149.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $63.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.01.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently -71.79%.

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.