Columbia Trust Co 01012016 Increases Stock Holdings in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Columbia Trust Co 01012016 grew its position in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,773 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 270 shares during the quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016’s holdings in Estée Lauder Companies were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,019,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,967,607,000 after purchasing an additional 184,641 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,009,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,739,070,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167,553 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,311,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $767,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,867,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $955,912,000 after purchasing an additional 146,006 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EL opened at $145.05 on Thursday. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.22 and a twelve month high of $260.46. The company has a market capitalization of $52.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.30.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 203.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EL. 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 research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Estée Lauder Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $179.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.71.

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.