Virtus Advisers LLC Invests $84,000 in Colgate-Palmolive Company $CL

Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 1.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,751,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,522,129,000 after purchasing an additional 993,432 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,009,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,186,651,000 after buying an additional 5,269,140 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the 2nd quarter valued at about $960,390,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 34.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,980,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $747,762,000 after acquiring an additional 2,045,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.7% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,176,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $672,447,000 after acquiring an additional 253,604 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

Colgate-Palmolive stock opened at $80.99 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.79, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market cap of $65.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $78.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.44. Colgate-Palmolive Company has a 1 year low of $74.54 and a 1 year high of $100.18.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.02. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.55% and a return on equity of 377.63%. The firm had revenue of $5.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive Company will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 17th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $96.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $100.00 to $94.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.87.

Colgate-Palmolive Company 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.