National Bank of Canada FI Sells 28,575 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

National Bank of Canada FI cut its position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 736,563 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,575 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $66,967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,303,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,391,261,000 after buying an additional 588,230 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,436,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,028,170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,784,411 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,193,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,095,325,000 after acquiring an additional 552,949 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $912,375,000. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,040,604 shares during the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.78.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Up 0.3 %

Colgate-Palmolive stock opened at $93.95 on Wednesday. Colgate-Palmolive has a fifty-two week low of $85.32 and a fifty-two 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.35. The stock has a market cap of $76.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40.

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 return on equity of 477.77% and a net margin of 14.38%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. Research analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. This is a boost from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is currently 59.09%.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, March 20th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.