Vontobel Holding Ltd. Purchases 55,304 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Free Report) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 451,412 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 55,304 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned about 0.13% of Estée Lauder Companies worth $66,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the first quarter valued at $37,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC acquired a new position in Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter valued at $39,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Estée Lauder Companies by 1,900.0% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 280 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 82.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 277 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 55.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $146.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Bank of America upgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $160.00 to $170.00 in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup raised Estée Lauder Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Estée Lauder Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $167.50.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:EL traded down $6.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $138.80. 2,167,030 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,086,190. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.22 and a twelve month high of $260.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $147.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.11.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.19 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 3.08%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 203.08%.

Estée Lauder Companies Company 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.