Guardian Investment Management Sells 150 Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Guardian Investment Management decreased its stake in shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new stake in 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 worth $37,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies in the second quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1,900.0% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on EL shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $146.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Citigroup upgraded shares of 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, Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on shares of Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.00.

Estée Lauder Companies Stock Performance

Shares of EL stock traded up $6.38 during trading on Thursday, reaching $144.42. The company had a trading volume of 2,747,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,664,561. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $138.03. 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 Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a one year low of $102.22 and a one year high of $260.46. The company has a market capitalization of $51.77 billion, a PE ratio of 109.21, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.07.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.19 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 203.08%.

Estée Lauder Companies 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.