JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Lowers Stock Holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd cut its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 465,390 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,450 shares during the quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $42,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter worth $912,375,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter valued at about $348,718,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 1,088.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,922,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $629,369,000 after purchasing an additional 1,816,865 shares during the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Down 1.0 %

CL opened at $89.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.39. 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 has a one year low of $85.32 and a one year high of $109.30. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.53.

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

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.76%.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 20th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.39.

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.