Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires New Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 32,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,579,000 after buying an additional 2,301 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 40,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,196,000 after buying an additional 1,496 shares during the period. HTLF Bank purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter worth about $335,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter worth about $284,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 182,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,569,000 after buying an additional 13,342 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Colgate-Palmolive

In other news, insider Jennifer Daniels sold 3,538 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.67, for a total transaction of $299,562.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 59,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,054,629.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director C Martin Harris sold 2,760 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.50, for a total value of $233,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,628,484. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Daniels sold 3,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.67, for a total transaction of $299,562.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,054,629.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 232,371 shares of company stock valued at $19,505,099 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James raised shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.50.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

Colgate-Palmolive stock traded up $0.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $87.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,005,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,627,129. Colgate-Palmolive has a fifty-two week low of $67.62 and a fifty-two week high of $90.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.59, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.42.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 509.75% and a net margin of 11.82%. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. Colgate-Palmolive’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is 69.06%.

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.