Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Has $12.07 Million Stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,817 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 494 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $12,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive during the 4th quarter valued at about $912,375,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $348,718,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 1,088.8% during the fourth quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,569,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,584,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353,268 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% in the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $132,405,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays dropped their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.39.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

NYSE:CL opened at $90.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $73.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.69, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $92.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.91. Colgate-Palmolive has a one year low of $85.32 and a one year high of $109.30.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. The business had revenue of $4.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 20th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire 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 stock is undervalued.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.76%.

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.