Prudential Financial Inc. Has $163.06 Million Holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,793,661 shares of the company’s stock after selling 69,179 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.22% of Colgate-Palmolive worth $163,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,303,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,391,261,000 after purchasing an additional 588,230 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% in 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 lifted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,193,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,095,325,000 after purchasing an additional 552,949 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 9,200,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $806,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,542,000 after buying an additional 2,132,747 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CL. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $121.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $101.00 price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.72.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of CL stock opened at $90.30 on Monday. Colgate-Palmolive has a one year low of $85.32 and a one year high of $109.30. The company has a market capitalization of $73.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $89.33 and its 200 day moving average is $94.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last posted its 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 return on equity of 477.77% and a net margin of 14.38%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders 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. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is currently 56.82%.

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.