Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Shares Sold by Trexquant Investment LP

Trexquant Investment LP cut its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 20.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 232,781 shares of the company’s stock after selling 60,862 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $21,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CL. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares during the period. Peak Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,315,000. Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,066,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter worth about $803,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% in the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CL shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.78.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Up 1.1 %

CL opened at $93.84 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $89.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $93.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $76.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. Colgate-Palmolive has a 12 month low of $85.32 and a 12 month high of $109.30.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 20th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This is a boost from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.09%.

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.