Mather Group LLC. Decreases Stock Holdings in Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL)

Mather Group LLC. lowered its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) by 3.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,441 shares of the company’s stock after selling 279 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter valued at about $912,375,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter valued at about $348,718,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 1,088.8% in 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. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,922,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,369,000 after purchasing an additional 1,816,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter valued at about $132,405,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CL has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.69.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of CL stock opened at $92.36 on Thursday. Colgate-Palmolive Company has a one year low of $85.32 and a one year high of $109.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.96, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $90.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 0.37.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.52% and a return on equity of 461.04%. The firm had revenue of $4.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. Colgate-Palmolive’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive Company will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

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

Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is currently 58.76%.

Colgate-Palmolive 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.