B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Purchases New Stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,292 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,002,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,575,926 shares of the company's stock worth $1,054,314,000 after buying an additional 913,470 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company's stock worth $570,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,679,154 shares of the company's stock worth $464,587,000 after acquiring an additional 70,307 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,041,911 shares of the company's stock valued at $402,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company's stock valued at $368,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,320 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $743,259.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 295,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 77,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $64.01 per share, with a total value of $4,960,775.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,010,345. This represents a 49.36 % 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

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the company from $113.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EL traded down $3.22 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $74.96. 4,062,413 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,585,632. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $159.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.69. The firm has a market cap of $26.91 billion, a PE ratio of 133.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.05.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Estée Lauder Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 250.00%.

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.