Cohen Klingenstein LLC Has $15.76 Million Stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Cohen Klingenstein LLC cut its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 4.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 168,149 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,000 shares during the period. Colgate-Palmolive makes up 0.6% of Cohen Klingenstein LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Cohen Klingenstein LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $15,756,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive during the first quarter worth about $639,000. CX Institutional raised its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 1,206.1% during the 1st quarter. CX Institutional now owns 59,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,555,000 after purchasing an additional 54,747 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 107.3% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,072,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,516,000 after buying an additional 555,216 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 9.5% during the first quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 3,874,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $363,049,000 after acquiring an additional 336,737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 1,872.4% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 180,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,867,000 after acquiring an additional 190,163 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CL. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Barclays cut their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.12.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

Shares of CL opened at $91.92 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $91.63 and a 200-day moving average of $91.13. Colgate-Palmolive has a 1 year low of $85.32 and a 1 year high of $109.30. The company has a market capitalization of $74.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 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 company had revenue of $4.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is currently 58.76%.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 20th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.