Northcape Capital Pty Ltd Has $746,000 Position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Northcape Capital Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,100 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the period. Estée Lauder Companies accounts for 0.1% of Northcape Capital Pty Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Northcape Capital Pty Ltd’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $858,070,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 68.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,720,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,850,000 after buying an additional 1,512,982 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $767,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387,271 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,009,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,739,070,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167,553 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 132.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,735,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,901,000 after acquiring an additional 988,829 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:EL traded up $8.98 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $154.02. The stock had a trading volume of 1,968,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,762,589. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $142.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.30. The stock has a market cap of $55.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.80, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.36. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.22 and a twelve month high of $260.46.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.33. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 3.08%. The company had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 203.08%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective 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. Bank of America raised shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $160.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Thursday. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $165.63.

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.