Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Reduces Holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS cut its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 173,721 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,151 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $15,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,812,000 after buying an additional 7,592 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 12,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after buying an additional 3,345 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,041,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,723,000 after buying an additional 201,274 shares during the period. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $159,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 453,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,257,000 after buying an additional 8,197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.72.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Colgate-Palmolive stock opened at $90.29 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $73.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Colgate-Palmolive has a 12 month low of $85.32 and a 12 month high of $109.30.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 20th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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 issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is currently 56.82%.

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.