Insider Selling: Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) COO Sells $1,968,678.12 in Stock

Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) COO Panagiotis Tsourapas sold 19,938 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.74, for a total value of $1,968,678.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $899,620.14. The trade was a 68.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Panagiotis Tsourapas also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 24th, Panagiotis Tsourapas sold 10,000 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.05, for a total value of $920,500.00.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Down 2.1%

CL traded down $2.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $96.61. 5,464,263 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,643,606. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $90.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.92. Colgate-Palmolive Company has a 1-year low of $75.96 and a 1-year high of $101.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.23. The company has a market cap of $76.80 billion, a PE ratio of 37.89, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.31.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $5.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.34 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 607.88% and a net margin of 9.65%. Colgate-Palmolive’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive Company will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 20th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 20th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CL shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.22.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CL. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 97.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 94,195,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,635,889,000 after purchasing an additional 46,476,510 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 8.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,532,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,240,652,000 after buying an additional 1,010,872 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 1.1% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 8,205,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $752,298,000 after buying an additional 88,917 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,637,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $565,722,000 after buying an additional 986,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 6,218,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,090,000 after buying an additional 1,033,918 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

About Colgate-Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive is a global consumer products company whose business spans oral care, personal care, home care and pet nutrition. Its products include toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, soaps, shampoos, cleaning products and pet food.

The company’s best-known brands include Colgate, Palmolive, elmex, Softsoap, Ajax and Hill’s Pet Nutrition. It sells products through retail and other channels in markets around the world.

Founded in 1806 by William Colgate as a soap and candle business in New York City, the company has grown into an international manufacturer of household and personal care products.