30,000 Shares in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Purchased by RBF Capital LLC

RBF Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 30,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,991,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. PARK CIRCLE Co bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 431 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 75,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the completion of 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 trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on EL shares. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $104.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EL traded down $1.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $78.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,910,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,555,873. 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 Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.29 and a 1-year high of $159.75. The stock has a market cap of $28.00 billion, a PE ratio of 141.63, a PEG ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $80.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.96.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.37 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Estée Lauder Companies's payout ratio is 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.