Stock Repurchase Plan Initiated by Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on CL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $101.00 price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $101.72.

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Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of CL traded up $0.61 on Monday, reaching $90.91. 4,611,072 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,227,739. The firm has a market cap of $73.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. Colgate-Palmolive has a 12 month low of $85.32 and a 12 month high of $109.30. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $89.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.01. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Colgate-Palmolive's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.82%.

About Colgate-Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells consumer products in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Oral, Personal and Home Care; and Pet Nutrition. The Oral, Personal and Home Care segment offers toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, bar and liquid hand soaps, shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and antiperspirants, skin health products, dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, and other related items.