Vontobel Holding Ltd. Boosts Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 22.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 349,173 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,688 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned about 0.10% of Estée Lauder Companies worth $34,809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EL. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3,065.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,983,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,439 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 1st quarter valued at $291,171,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,686,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,188,832,000 after buying an additional 1,250,555 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 44.4% in the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,466,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,320 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the first quarter valued at $82,664,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $136.00 to $117.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.36.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $90.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $32.57 billion, a PE ratio of 51.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $91.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.21. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $82.39 and a fifty-two week high of $159.75.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 16.91% and a net margin of 2.50%. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is presently 148.31%.

Insider Activity

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total transaction of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,800 shares in the company, valued at $4,578,114. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total value of $364,142.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,423,714.49. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $4,578,114. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 12.77% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Company 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.