Wedmont Private Capital Sells 3,419 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Wedmont Private Capital lessened its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 27.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,972 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,419 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Piscataqua Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 12,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,148,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 14,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after buying an additional 2,221 shares in the last quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 68,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,516 shares in the last quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $828,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 160,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,004,000 after purchasing an additional 10,414 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.12.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CL opened at $90.94 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $91.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.12. Colgate-Palmolive has a twelve month low of $85.32 and a twelve month high of $109.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.70 billion, a PE ratio of 25.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.38.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. The firm had revenue of $4.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.76%.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 20th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.