Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Cuts Stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lessened its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Free Report) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 439,116 shares of the company's stock after selling 48,977 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina owned about 0.05% of Colgate-Palmolive worth $39,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,303,059 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,391,261,000 after buying an additional 588,230 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,518,014 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,868,723,000 after acquiring an additional 324,683 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $912,375,000. Amundi lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 9,200,144 shares of the company's stock worth $806,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company's stock valued at $793,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132,747 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on CL. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.67.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE CL traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $94.31. 3,652,264 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,574,944. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $90.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $76.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.79, 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.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 an increase from Colgate-Palmolive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Colgate-Palmolive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.09%.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Colgate-Palmolive Profile

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.