Alliancebernstein L.P. Lowers Stock Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Alliancebernstein L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,456,256 shares of the company’s stock after selling 199,878 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $132,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.1% during the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 14,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,501,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 4.8% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 970,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,689,000 after acquiring an additional 44,482 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 37.8% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,196,000 after acquiring an additional 5,869 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.4% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 445,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,260,000 after purchasing an additional 14,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 386.4% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CL. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.06.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of CL stock opened at $93.65 on Thursday. Colgate-Palmolive has a twelve month low of $85.32 and a twelve month high of $109.30. The stock has a market cap of $75.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $90.03 and a 200 day moving average of $93.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.09%.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 20th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management 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.