Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) to Underweight

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $100.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CL. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $119.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a buy rating to a hold rating and cut their target price for the company from $103.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $102.79.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock opened at $103.17 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $102.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.90. Colgate-Palmolive has a twelve month low of $67.62 and a twelve month high of $109.30. The stock has a market cap of $84.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.40.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 470.19%. The firm had revenue of $5.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Martina Hundmejean sold 2,313 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total value of $240,228.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,755 shares in the company, valued at $1,220,874.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Panagiotis Tsourapas sold 14,794 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.94, for a total value of $1,522,894.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,146 shares in the company, valued at $529,729.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Martina Hundmejean sold 2,313 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total transaction of $240,228.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,220,874.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 43,490 shares of company stock worth $4,486,063. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CL. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Union Savings Bank lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. PSI Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 4,971.4% during the first quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 46.5% during the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Core Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 56.6% during the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.