Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $90.89, but opened at $85.43. Colgate-Palmolive shares last traded at $86.35, with a volume of 1,195,022 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $101.00 to $95.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays cut their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $96.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on 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, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $92.00 to $83.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.00.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.46. The company has a market capitalization of $71.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.25.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced 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 return on equity of 405.81% and a net margin of 14.27%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is 57.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Colgate-Palmolive

In other news, CFO Stanley J. Sutula III sold 45,410 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.11, for a total transaction of $4,273,535.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,456,283.86. This represents a 55.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Colgate-Palmolive

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. D Orazio & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.9% during the third quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 2,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 5.2% in the third quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 2,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 0.6% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,117,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Great Waters Wealth Management raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 1.5% in the third quarter. Great Waters Wealth Management now owns 7,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.1% in the third quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $585,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. 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.