GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. Purchases New Shares in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CL. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 38,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,526,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 2,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,517 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. boosted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 2,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC boosted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 20,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,831,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.67.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of CL stock opened at $93.48 on Thursday. Colgate-Palmolive has a fifty-two week low of $85.32 and a fifty-two week high of $109.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $90.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $75.82 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 20th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.09%.

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.