ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 95,054 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive Company $CL

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) by 3,335.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 97,904 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 95,054 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $8,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 97.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 94,195,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,635,889,000 after acquiring an additional 46,476,510 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 172.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,521,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,067,211,000 after purchasing an additional 7,927,238 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $567,483,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 266.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,146,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,136,000 after purchasing an additional 3,014,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter worth $236,682,000. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Colgate-Palmolive

In other news, Director John T. Cahill sold 4,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.37, for a total value of $389,352.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 28,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,649,187.01. The trade was a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 161,021 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $14,801,050.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 362,231 shares in the company, valued at $33,296,273.52. This represents a 30.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 175,191 shares of company stock worth $16,110,903. 0.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on CL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $103.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Bank of America dropped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $102.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Evercore lifted their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.11.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Up 3.2%

CL stock opened at $92.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.82, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.93. Colgate-Palmolive Company has a 12 month low of $74.54 and a 12 month high of $99.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.98 billion, a PE ratio of 36.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.33.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.04. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 9.68% and a return on equity of 464.63%. The business had revenue of $5.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive Company will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 20th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is 84.13%.

Colgate-Palmolive Profile

Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE: CL) is a global consumer products company focused on oral care, personal care, home care and pet nutrition. Its portfolio includes toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, body washes, deodorants, soaps, household cleaning products and pet food and treats.

The company markets many of its products under well-known brands, including Colgate, Palmolive, elmex, meridol, Protex, Softsoap, Ajax, Irish Spring, Speed Stick, Tom’s of Maine and Hill’s Science Diet.