Wells Fargo & Company MN Cuts Stock Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Wells Fargo & Company MN reduced its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,679,908 shares of the company's stock after selling 176,077 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.94% of Colgate-Palmolive worth $698,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CL. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 445,623 shares of the company's stock worth $46,260,000 after buying an additional 14,844 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 386.4% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,605 shares of the company's stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the third quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,482,000. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 63.9% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 795,100 shares of the company's stock worth $82,539,000 after buying an additional 310,119 shares in the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $102.06.

Remove Ads

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

CL traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $90.76. The company had a trading volume of 2,600,543 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,566,322. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $90.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.92. Colgate-Palmolive has a 12-month low of $85.32 and a 12-month high of $109.30. The stock has a market cap of $73.61 billion, a PE ratio of 25.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Colgate-Palmolive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.09%.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 20th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Colgate-Palmolive Company 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.