First Merchants Corp Has $403,000 Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

First Merchants Corp cut its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,430 shares of the company’s stock after selling 225 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 218,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,632,000 after purchasing an additional 4,372 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 49.3% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 1,804 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 1.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,950,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,246,000 after acquiring an additional 40,324 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 27.8% in the third quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 2,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 10.6% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $854,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price (down from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.16.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of CL opened at $86.10 on Friday. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $83.20 and a 52 week high of $109.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.46, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.41.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.01. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 477.77% and a net margin of 14.38%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 21st. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is 56.82%.

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.