Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) to Repurchase $5.00 billion in Outstanding Stock

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CL shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $121.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.72.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of CL traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $90.29. 5,570,489 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,203,859. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40. Colgate-Palmolive has a 1 year low of $85.32 and a 1 year high of $109.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $89.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.38.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. This is a boost from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.