Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Raises Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Free Report) by 79.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,723,746 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 2,533,006 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 1.59% of Estée Lauder Companies worth $570,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EL. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the third quarter worth about $31,000. PARK CIRCLE Co purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter worth about $35,000. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. HSBC lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $125.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total value of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,578,114. The trade was a 6.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company's stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 4.6 %

EL stock traded up $3.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $69.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,097,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,490,936. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.48. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.29 and a 1 year high of $159.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.88, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.05.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm 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%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Estée Lauder Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.