Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) by 23.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 329,826 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 63,419 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $30,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,303,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,391,261,000 after acquiring an additional 588,230 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 1.6% during the fourth 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 shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter valued at about $912,375,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,497,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,447,000 after acquiring an additional 993,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 9,200,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $806,015,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,604 shares in the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.12.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CL opened at $87.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.38. Colgate-Palmolive Company has a 12 month low of $85.32 and a 12 month high of $109.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.96, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 461.04% and a net margin of 14.52%. The firm had revenue of $4.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive Company will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan 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 plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.76%.

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.