Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.52

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.52 per share on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This is a 4.0% increase from Colgate-Palmolive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Colgate-Palmolive has raised its dividend by an average of 3.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 62 years. Colgate-Palmolive has a dividend payout ratio of 49.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Colgate-Palmolive to earn $4.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.6%.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock traded up $0.61 during trading on Monday, hitting $90.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,611,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,227,738. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $85.32 and a 52 week high of $109.30. The company has a market capitalization of $73.78 billion, a PE ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.92.

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

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,578 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note 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 report on Wednesday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $101.72.

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.