Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd Takes $1.76 Million Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 12,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,755,000. Estée Lauder Companies accounts for approximately 0.6% of Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EL. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $767,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387,271 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 132.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,735,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,901,000 after acquiring an additional 988,829 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $95,085,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $69,047,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on EL. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Bernstein Bank increased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.36.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EL traded down $19.34 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $127.37. The company had a trading volume of 11,754,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,761,945. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.33. The stock has a market cap of $45.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.07. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.22 and a 1 year high of $246.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.49. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 9.78%. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is currently 203.08%.

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