Citigroup Raises Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Price Target to $100.00

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) had its target price increased by Citigroup from $95.00 to $100.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock.

CL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James raised shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $91.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. TheStreet raised shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a c+ rating to a b+ rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $89.50.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of CL stock opened at $86.70 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $71.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.59, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $87.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.67. Colgate-Palmolive has a one year low of $67.62 and a one year high of $90.37.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.89 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 11.82% and a return on equity of 509.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Colgate-Palmolive

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,467,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 36,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,276,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 461.5% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,036,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,311,000 after buying an additional 851,671 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 49.6% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC boosted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 20,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,831,000 after buying an additional 697 shares during the period. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.