LPL Financial LLC Sells 26,111 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

LPL Financial LLC cut its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 729,155 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,111 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $66,287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,436,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,028,170,000 after buying an additional 1,784,411 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,193,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,095,325,000 after acquiring an additional 552,949 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 12.8% in the 4th 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 during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,132,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,749,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $700,642,000 after purchasing an additional 2,674,807 shares during 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 brokerages have recently issued reports on CL. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $92.00 to $83.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.72.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

CL opened at $92.05 on Thursday. Colgate-Palmolive has a 1-year low of $85.32 and a 1-year high of $109.30. The stock has a market cap of $74.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.01. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is 56.82%.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.