Franklin Resources Inc. Has $420.96 Million Stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,630,554 shares of the company’s stock after selling 132,507 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $420,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,303,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,391,261,000 after buying an additional 588,230 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,784,411 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,193,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,095,325,000 after purchasing an additional 552,949 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter valued at $912,375,000. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 9,200,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,015,000 after buying an additional 1,040,604 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $101.00 target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.78.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Up 1.1 %

Colgate-Palmolive stock opened at $93.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $76.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.66, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52-week low of $85.32 and a 52-week high of $109.30. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $89.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.44.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.09%.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 20th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.