Prentice Capital Management LP Invests $498,000 in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Prentice Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $498,000. Estée Lauder Companies accounts for 1.1% of Prentice Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IHT Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Estée Lauder Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $455,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 130.4% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 9,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 5,140 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its holdings in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 48.5% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 7,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 71.5% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 466,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,509,000 after buying an additional 194,492 shares during the period. Finally, Concentric Capital Strategies LP bought a new position in Estée Lauder Companies during the third quarter worth about $4,163,000. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estée Lauder Companies

In related news, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 10,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total transaction of $743,259.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 295,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,045,982.88. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Paul J. Fribourg purchased 77,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $64.01 per share, for a total transaction of $4,960,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 234,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,010,345. The trade was a 49.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 12.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EL. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $180.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. HSBC cut shares of Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Estée Lauder Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $105.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.57.

Estée Lauder Companies Price Performance

EL stock opened at $77.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company’s 50-day moving average is $80.93 and its 200-day moving average is $95.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.80 billion, a PE ratio of 138.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 1.05. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.29 and a 1 year high of $159.75.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Estée Lauder Companies Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 250.00%.

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