Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,368 shares of the company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $1,346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 14,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 2,555 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 42,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter valued at about $87,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup increased 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. Wall Street Zen lowered Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.12.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 1.2%

CL opened at $91.92 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $91.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.13. 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 has a 12 month low of $85.32 and a 12 month high of $109.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.38.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 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 business posted $0.86 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date was 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 announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 20th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management 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.