Ameriprise Financial Inc. Cuts Stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lowered its position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Free Report) by 90.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 146,060 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,456,903 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.'s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $10,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EL. Alpha Family Trust grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Alpha Family Trust now owns 3,660 shares of the company's stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 915 shares in the last quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 13,465 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,010,000 after buying an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $13,008,000. Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $334,000. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems grew its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 38,236 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,867,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $71.00 to $64.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $72.00 to $61.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $77.00 to $67.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and set a $81.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.20.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Up 1.3%

EL traded up $0.81 during trading on Thursday, reaching $64.47. The stock had a trading volume of 2,925,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,108,027. The stock's 50 day moving average is $60.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $23.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.06, a P/E/G ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.12. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a one year low of $48.37 and a one year high of $131.00.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $2.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.51 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a positive return on equity of 16.82% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Estée Lauder Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently -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.