Eagle Ridge Investment Management Has $1.46 Million Stock Holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Eagle Ridge Investment Management grew its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,357 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $1,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Choreo LLC increased its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 7,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 2,018 shares in the last quarter. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter worth about $203,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 7,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the period. Finally, PGGM Investments increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 132,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,570,000 after purchasing an additional 10,184 shares during the period. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 69,948 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 286,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,161,117.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Daniels sold 61,633 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.93, for a total value of $5,172,857.69. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,863,575.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 69,948 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.22, for a total value of $5,891,020.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,161,117.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 232,371 shares of company stock valued at $19,505,099. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:CL traded down $0.88 during trading on Monday, hitting $90.13. 2,385,562 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,581,458. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $67.62 and a 52 week high of $92.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.59. The company has a market cap of $74.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $87.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.63.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 485.40% and a net margin of 13.22%. The firm had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is 63.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on CL shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet upgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James upgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.38.

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.