58,500 Shares of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. $EL Purchased by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 58,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,427,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Estee Lauder Companies by 35.2% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 415 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Estee Lauder Companies by 4.7% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 2,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Estee Lauder Companies by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Estee Lauder Companies by 3.0% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in Estee Lauder Companies by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 10,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EL has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised Estee Lauder Companies from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. CICC Research raised Estee Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $122.00 in a report on Monday, August 31st. China Intl Cap upgraded Estee Lauder Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $104.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.73.

Estee Lauder Companies Price Performance

EL stock opened at $110.54 on Friday. The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $66.22 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $101.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.23.

Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. Estee Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 26.99% and a net margin of 2.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. will post 3.44 EPS for the current year.

Estee Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 30th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 30th. Estee Lauder Companies’s payout ratio is presently 140.00%.

Insider Activity at Estee Lauder Companies

In related news, Director Paul Fribourg sold 2,406 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.10, for a total transaction of $276,930.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 323,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,283,422.20. This represents a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.82, for a total transaction of $373,045.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 50,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,036,954.22. This trade represents a 6.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 173,180 shares of company stock valued at $18,273,495 in the last ninety days. 11.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Estee Lauder Companies Company Profile

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is a global prestige beauty company founded in 1946 by Estée and Joseph Lauder. Based in New York City, it develops, markets and sells beauty products under a portfolio of brands, including Estée Lauder, Clinique, M·A·C, La Mer, Aveda and Jo Malone London. The company’s products span skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care. It reaches consumers through department stores, specialty retailers, its own stores and websites, and other online and travel-retail channels.