Farringdon Capital Ltd. Acquires New Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 11,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,010,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CL. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Wintrust Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. 80.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $101.00 target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $102.17.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Colgate-Palmolive stock traded up $2.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $95.49. The company had a trading volume of 7,029,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,584,545. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40. The firm has a market cap of $77.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.13, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average of $91.31 and a 200-day moving average of $92.36. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $85.32 and a 52 week high of $109.30.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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 issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Colgate-Palmolive's payout ratio is presently 59.09%.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 20th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.