12,060 Shares in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Acquired by Mufg Securities Americas Inc.

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 12,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $912,375,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter valued at $348,718,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 1,088.8% in the 4th quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,569,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,584,000 after buying an additional 2,353,268 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,132,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,922,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,816,865 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CL. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.39.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

NYSE CL opened at $87.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a P/E/G 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. The business’s fifty day moving average is $91.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $91.38. Colgate-Palmolive has a 1 year low of $85.32 and a 1 year high of $109.30.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. The business had revenue of $4.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This is a boost from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is 58.76%.

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.