Court Place Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Court Place Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,297 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,824 shares during the quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $2,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. &PARTNERS lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 17,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 24.0% in the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 682 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.1% in the first quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 6,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.7% in the third quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 5,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.7% in the third quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Colgate-Palmolive news, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 69,948 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.22, for a total value of $5,891,020.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 286,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,161,117.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Colgate-Palmolive news, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 69,948 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.22, for a total value of $5,891,020.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 286,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,161,117.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.15, for a total value of $4,157,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 274,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,797,983.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 232,371 shares of company stock worth $19,505,099. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on CL shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.50.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

NYSE CL traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $86.77. The stock had a trading volume of 3,885,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,547,918. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.92 and a 200 day moving average of $80.58. The stock has a market cap of $71.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.42. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52-week low of $67.62 and a 52-week high of $90.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.59, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 509.75% and a net margin of 11.82%. Colgate-Palmolive’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.06%.

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.