National Pension Service Buys 9,550 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

National Pension Service grew its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 426,258 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,550 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $62,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 25,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,718,000 after acquiring an additional 4,289 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 16,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,440,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter worth $417,000. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $2,543,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,279,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,199,000 after buying an additional 29,891 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EL. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $169.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Bank of America raised Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $160.00 to $170.00 in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.92.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL stock traded up $2.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $131.53. The company had a trading volume of 806,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,790,398. The company has a market capitalization of $47.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $145.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.03. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $102.22 and a 52-week high of $204.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 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 earned $0.47 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 148.31%.

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.