Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Stake Trimmed by K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc lowered its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 75.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,080 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,510 shares during the quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $724,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CL. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,815,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,195,785,000 after purchasing an additional 514,559 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,452,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 305,862 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,590,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $468,644,000 after purchasing an additional 127,805 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 27.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,597,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,055,000 after buying an additional 1,199,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 10.1% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,455,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,005,000 after buying an additional 500,916 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Colgate-Palmolive news, insider Jennifer Daniels sold 61,633 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.93, for a total transaction of $5,172,857.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,948 shares in the company, valued at $4,863,575.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director C Martin Harris sold 2,760 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.50, for a total value of $233,220.00. Following the completion of 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Daniels sold 61,633 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.93, for a total value of $5,172,857.69. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,863,575.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 232,371 shares of company stock worth $19,505,099 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James raised Colgate-Palmolive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.50.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CL traded up $1.72 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $91.01. The stock had a trading volume of 7,541,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,968,951. The business’s fifty day moving average is $87.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.46. 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 market cap of $74.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.42. Colgate-Palmolive has a twelve month low of $67.62 and a twelve month high of $92.25.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.96 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 509.75% and a net margin of 11.82%. Colgate-Palmolive’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.5 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business 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 is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.94%.

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.