International Assets Investment Management LLC Invests $9.69 Million in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 66,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,689,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of EL. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in 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. FMR LLC lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 132.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,735,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,901,000 after purchasing an additional 988,829 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $95,085,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the third quarter worth about $69,047,000. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on EL. Citigroup upgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.92.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:EL opened at $132.94 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $145.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $138.15. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.22 and a fifty-two week high of $209.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.66 billion, a PE ratio of 74.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.58.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.49. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.32%.

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