Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,421 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,436,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,028,170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,784,411 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,193,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,095,325,000 after acquiring an additional 552,949 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 9,200,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $806,015,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,604 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,132,747 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 65.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,749,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $700,642,000 after acquiring an additional 2,674,807 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.72.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:CL opened at $90.30 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $89.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.27. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $85.32 and a 52 week high of $109.30. The company has a market cap of $73.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.82%.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire 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.

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.