Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $146.46 Million Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,611,425 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,508 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.20% of Colgate-Palmolive worth $146,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,303,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,391,261,000 after buying an additional 588,230 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,518,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,868,723,000 after acquiring an additional 324,683 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter worth $912,375,000. Amundi increased its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 9,200,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132,747 shares during the period. 80.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CL. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.06.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of CL stock opened at $91.75 on Friday. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $85.32 and a 52 week high of $109.30. The company has a market capitalization of $74.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.01. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 477.77% and a net margin of 14.38%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is 59.09%.

Colgate-Palmolive Company 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.