New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 9,535 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 286,735 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,535 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $21,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 9,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 2,168 shares in the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 41.0% during the 4th quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 25,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,875,000 after buying an additional 7,268 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1,610.0% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1,242.4% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 3,106 shares during the period. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,153,000. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 43,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $66.35 per share, for a total transaction of $2,853,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 430,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,583,580. This trade represents a 11.09 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Akhil Shrivastava purchased 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $65.79 per share, for a total transaction of $46,053.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,381 shares in the company, valued at $156,645.99. This trade represents a 41.64 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on EL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $71.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

NYSE EL opened at $71.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.77, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.03. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $74.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.05. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.29 and a 1 year high of $159.54.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is -71.79%.

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.