Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Reduces Stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lowered its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 204,536 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,408 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $16,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,337,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,869,000 after buying an additional 11,431 shares during the period. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,054,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 21,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,714,000 after buying an additional 1,181 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 233.9% during the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,540,000 after buying an additional 48,682 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $637,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CL. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays boosted their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. StockNews.com downgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.44.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Colgate-Palmolive stock opened at $86.57 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.14, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.11. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $67.62 and a 52 week high of $90.37. 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 (NYSE:CL) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 509.75% and a net margin of 11.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.06%.

Insider Activity at Colgate-Palmolive

In related news, EVP Gregory Malcolm sold 8,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.35, for a total value of $762,175.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,043 shares in the company, valued at $686,470.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Colgate-Palmolive news, EVP Gregory Malcolm sold 8,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.35, for a total transaction of $762,175.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,043 shares in the company, valued at $686,470.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 274,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,797,983.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 232,371 shares of company stock worth $19,505,099. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.