The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) Shares Sold by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp cut its position in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL - Free Report) by 64.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,029 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,054 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp's holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $1,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,626,625 shares of the company's stock worth $2,692,479,000 after buying an additional 140,488 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company's stock valued at $767,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387,271 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,483,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $648,085,000 after acquiring an additional 254,198 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,720,872 shares of the company's stock worth $537,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,521,451 shares of the company's stock worth $364,476,000 after purchasing an additional 137,546 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Monday, April 15th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $160.92.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of EL traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $129.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,269,437 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,809,113. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52 week low of $102.22 and a 52 week high of $209.64. The stock has a market cap of $46.43 billion, a PE ratio of 72.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.07. The company's fifty day moving average price is $145.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Estée Lauder Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 148.32%.

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