Sheets Smith Wealth Management Decreases Stock Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management reduced its holdings in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 28.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,017 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,100 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $1,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,626,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,692,479,000 after purchasing an additional 140,488 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $767,730,000 after buying an additional 1,387,271 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,483,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $648,085,000 after buying an additional 254,198 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,720,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,850,000 after buying an additional 1,512,982 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 5.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,521,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,476,000 after acquiring an additional 137,546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EL shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $169.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Bernstein Bank increased their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $140.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.92.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock traded down $2.00 on Friday, hitting $132.94. 3,791,987 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,776,756. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $102.22 and a 52-week high of $209.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $47.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.69, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $145.88 and its 200 day moving average is $138.15.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently 148.32%.

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, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.