NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan Trims Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan trimmed its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 48.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,700 shares during the quarter. NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $745,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CL. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 65.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,749,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $700,642,000 after purchasing an additional 2,674,807 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% during 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,436,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,028,170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784,411 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,091,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $462,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DJE Kapital AG purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter worth about $101,597,000. 80.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CL. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $101.00 price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $92.00 to $83.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $96.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.61.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of CL stock opened at $92.74 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.37. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $85.32 and a 52 week high of $109.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40. The company has a market cap of $75.26 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.44.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.01. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 21st. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is 56.82%.

About Colgate-Palmolive

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.