State of Wyoming Buys 1,400 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

State of Wyoming lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 75.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,261 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $912,375,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter valued at $348,718,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 1,088.8% in the fourth quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,569,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,584,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353,268 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 35.6% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,922,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,369,000 after purchasing an additional 1,816,865 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Down 0.9%

CL stock opened at $90.84 on Friday. Colgate-Palmolive has a 12 month low of $85.32 and a 12 month high of $109.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $91.75 and its 200 day moving average is $91.25. The company has a market capitalization of $73.62 billion, a PE ratio of 25.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. The business had revenue of $4.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is 58.76%.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 20th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $101.00 target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.12.

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.