68,223 Shares in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Bought by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 68,223 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,112,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 388 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 297.0% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 401 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 476 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on EL. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $84.67.

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Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 5.9 %

EL stock traded up $3.24 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $58.47. The company had a trading volume of 1,905,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,007,092. The company has a market capitalization of $20.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.98, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.54. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.37 and a 52 week high of $149.91.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $4 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies's dividend payout ratio is -71.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Akhil Shrivastava acquired 700 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were acquired 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 43,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $66.35 per share, with a total value of $2,853,050.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 430,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,583,580. This trade represents a 11.09 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.78% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.