Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Takes Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 19,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,810,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 588,230 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 324,683 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the 4th quarter worth $912,375,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,497,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $863,447,000 after purchasing an additional 993,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 9,200,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $806,015,000 after buying an additional 1,040,604 shares during the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on CL shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays decreased their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.12.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock opened at $93.02 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.27. Colgate-Palmolive has a 12 month low of $85.32 and a 12 month high of $109.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.39. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.92 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. Colgate-Palmolive’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. 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%.

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.