Kessler Investment Group LLC Sells 294 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Kessler Investment Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,154 shares of the company’s stock after selling 294 shares during the quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CL. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,749,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $700,642,000 after buying an additional 2,674,807 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132,747 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,436,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,028,170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784,411 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,091,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $462,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,731 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 941.9% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,364 shares during the period. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Down 1.9 %

CL stock opened at $86.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.46, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $70.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.44. Colgate-Palmolive has a fifty-two week low of $83.20 and a fifty-two week high of $109.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $89.69 and a 200-day moving average of $96.48.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.01. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 477.77% and a net margin of 14.38%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is 56.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $96.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $92.00 to $83.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.16.

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.