Blair William & Co. IL Sells 6,822 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 269,607 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,822 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $24,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CL. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 526.0% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 795 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 749.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 61,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,397,000 after buying an additional 54,369 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 36.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 954,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,094,000 after buying an additional 257,361 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,749,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $700,642,000 after buying an additional 2,674,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 111.3% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 55,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,746,000 after acquiring an additional 29,157 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of CL stock opened at $93.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $89.62 and a 200 day moving average of $93.80. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $85.32 and a 52 week high of $109.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.01. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.09%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CL. UBS Group reduced their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $101.00 price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $92.00 to $83.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.06.

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.