Man Group plc Lowers Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Man Group plc decreased its stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 39.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 616,188 shares of the company’s stock after selling 395,169 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $46,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,014,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,025,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,344,210 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,382,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,078,406,000 after purchasing an additional 8,930,011 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 7,858,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $589,205,000 after purchasing an additional 2,458,379 shares during the period. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $554,509,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 148.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,481,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $410,984,000 after purchasing an additional 3,278,632 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on EL. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (down from $70.00) on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $100.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.20.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

EL stock opened at $64.03 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market cap of $22.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.12. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.37 and a 52-week high of $139.34.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.36. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. The business had revenue of $2.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. Estée Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is -57.85%.

About Estée Lauder Companies

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