Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Price Target Raised to $122.00

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) had its target price upped by UBS Group from $119.00 to $122.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on CL. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Colgate-Palmolive in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued an outperform rating and a $109.00 target price on the stock. Argus increased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, HSBC reissued a hold rating on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Friday, July 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $102.53.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE CL opened at $107.90 on Wednesday. Colgate-Palmolive has a 12 month low of $67.62 and a 12 month high of $109.30. The stock has a market cap of $88.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $101.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.90.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 470.19% and a net margin of 14.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Martina Hundmejean sold 2,313 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total value of $240,228.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,220,874.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Martina Hundmejean sold 2,313 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total value of $240,228.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,220,874.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Panagiotis Tsourapas sold 14,794 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.94, for a total transaction of $1,522,894.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $529,729.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,490 shares of company stock valued at $4,486,063 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Colgate-Palmolive

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter valued at about $731,843,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 27.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,067,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,698,096,000 after purchasing an additional 8,933,912 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the 1st quarter valued at about $286,370,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 108.4% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,682,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,367,000 after purchasing an additional 2,955,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 40.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,969,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $870,400,000 after purchasing an additional 2,593,313 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

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.