Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Sells 1,300 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. decreased its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 28,608 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $2,601,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CL. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $591,000 after buying an additional 943 shares during the last quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,315,000. Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,066,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $803,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132,747 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $121.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $96.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.72.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CL opened at $90.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $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 fifty-two week low of $85.32 and a fifty-two week high of $109.30.

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

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.82%.

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

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.