Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Stock Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,886 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $5,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 370,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,498,000 after purchasing an additional 74,337 shares during the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 4,053,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,115,000 after purchasing an additional 49,980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on CL. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Raymond James raised shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. TheStreet raised shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.44.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE CL traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $93.18. The company had a trading volume of 3,181,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,673,507. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $88.49 and a 200 day moving average of $82.49. Colgate-Palmolive has a 1-year low of $67.62 and a 1-year high of $93.30.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $5.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.96 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 485.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is 63.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 29,772 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.06, for a total transaction of $2,502,634.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 301,343 shares in the company, valued at $25,330,892.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 29,772 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.06, for a total value of $2,502,634.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 301,343 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,330,892.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 69,948 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.22, for a total transaction of $5,891,020.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 286,881 shares in the company, valued at $24,161,117.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 159,048 shares of company stock worth $13,336,846. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.