Millstone Evans Group LLC Buys New Stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $166,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CL. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 38,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,526,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 2,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 2,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 20,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,831,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 4.2% in the third quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 3,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $121.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. 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 report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.72.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 0.0 %

CL stock opened at $90.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.18. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $85.32 and a 52 week high of $109.30. The company has a market capitalization of $73.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a boost from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.82%.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management 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.