The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Sold by Pitcairn Co.

Pitcairn Co. trimmed its holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Free Report) by 44.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,389 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,455 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.'s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the third quarter valued at $307,000. Biltmore Family Office LLC increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 2,376 shares of the company's stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,199 shares of the company's stock worth $718,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 2.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,338,581 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,443,000 after buying an additional 35,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position 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. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on EL. B. Riley decreased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI dropped 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 report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $131.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.57.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,578,114. The trade was a 6.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.93 per share, for a total transaction of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 310,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,128,300. The trade was a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.78% of the company's stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 4.3 %

NYSE:EL traded up $3.04 on Monday, hitting $72.97. 10,007,906 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,522,604. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $82.54 and a 200-day moving average of $97.63. The stock has a market cap of $26.19 billion, a PE ratio of 130.30, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 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.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. The company's revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Estée Lauder Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 471.43%.

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.