Marino Stram & Associates LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Marino Stram & Associates LLC decreased its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,191 shares of the company’s stock after selling 262 shares during the period. Marino Stram & Associates LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 0.6% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,457,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,309,583,000 after acquiring an additional 112,177 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,815,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,195,785,000 after acquiring an additional 514,559 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 90,253.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,974,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,258,627,000 after acquiring an additional 15,956,771 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 0.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,470,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,971,000 after acquiring an additional 50,040 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter valued at about $644,715,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 0.0 %

CL stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $86.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,364,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,529,708. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.59. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $67.62 and a 52 week high of $90.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $86.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.48. The stock has a market cap of $70.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.42.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced 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 company had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 509.75% and a net margin of 11.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.06%.

Insider Activity at Colgate-Palmolive

In related news, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 274,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,797,983.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 274,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,797,983.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 29,772 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.06, for a total value of $2,502,634.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 301,343 shares in the company, valued at $25,330,892.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 232,371 shares of company stock worth $19,505,099 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.50.

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.