Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Buys New Shares in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought a new stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL – Get Rating) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 22,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,776,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EL. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 281.3% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,512,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,115,869 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 581.7% in the 2nd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 782,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,263,000 after acquiring an additional 667,656 shares during the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 2,583,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $558,587,000 after acquiring an additional 635,000 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 236.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 747,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,316,000 after acquiring an additional 525,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,162,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,885,000 after acquiring an additional 502,558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $255.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 24th. Redburn Partners assumed coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Thursday, December 15th. They set a “sell” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $290.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $274.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.46.

Insider Transactions at Estée Lauder Companies

In other news, EVP Carl P. Haney sold 9,741 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.90, for a total value of $2,473,239.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,773 shares in the company, valued at $1,211,864.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Jennifer Hyman sold 5,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.88, for a total transaction of $1,396,849.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $266,880. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Carl P. Haney sold 9,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.90, for a total transaction of $2,473,239.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,211,864.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,511 shares of company stock worth $8,943,120 over the last three months. 12.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $234.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.79 billion, a PE ratio of 57.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 1.00. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.47 and a 52-week high of $289.59. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $256.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $238.98.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.25. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The firm had revenue of $4.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 4.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 28th were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 27th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.23%.

Estée Lauder Companies Profile

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The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc engages in the manufacture of skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. It sells products under the following brand names: Estée Lauder, Clinique, Origins, MAC, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Aveda and Too Faced. Its channels consist of department stores, multi-brand retailers, upscale perfumeries and pharmacies, and prestige salons and spas.