Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 14,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,048,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. United Bank boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 4,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,329,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 78.4% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 17,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,833,000 after purchasing an additional 7,797 shares during the period. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,147,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 27.3% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 978 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of 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 report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock opened at $138.07 on Thursday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.22 and a 1 year high of $260.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $49.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.21, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $146.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.03.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.33. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 9.78%. The company had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. Estée Lauder Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. 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.