Waverly Advisors LLC Buys 3,378 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 100,827 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,378 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $9,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,303,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,391,261,000 after buying an additional 588,230 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,518,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,868,723,000 after buying an additional 324,683 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $912,375,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,497,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $863,447,000 after buying an additional 993,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 9,200,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,015,000 after buying an additional 1,040,604 shares in the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $101.00 price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price (down from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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, StockNews.com cut Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.12.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE CL opened at $91.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.26. Colgate-Palmolive has a 12 month low of $85.32 and a 12 month 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.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $4.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 20th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans 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 was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.76%.

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.