Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Price Target Cut to $90.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo lowered Colgate-Palmolive’s price target from $95 to $90 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating, implying approximately 5.05% upside from the stock’s $85.67 price.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $98.65, despite several recent target reductions.
• The company exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.99 in EPS versus a $0.95 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 4.9% year over year to $5.36 billion. Insiders sold roughly $16.1 million of stock over the past 90 days, largely including CEO shares sold to cover tax obligations.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price would suggest a potential upside of 5.05% from the stock's current price.

CL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $103.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $101.00 target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $98.65.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 1.7%

CL traded up $1.42 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $85.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 708,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,702,391. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52-week low of $74.54 and a 52-week high of $99.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.82. The firm has a market cap of $68.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.01, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.33.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.04. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 9.68% and a return on equity of 464.63%. The business had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John T. Cahill sold 4,170 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.37, for a total transaction of $389,352.90. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 28,373 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,649,187.01. The trade was a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 161,021 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total transaction of $14,801,050.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 362,231 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,296,273.52. This trade represents a 30.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 175,191 shares of company stock worth $16,110,903 in the last 90 days. 0.43% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Colgate-Palmolive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CL. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 97.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 94,195,992 shares of the company's stock worth $8,635,889,000 after acquiring an additional 46,476,510 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 172.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,521,545 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,067,211,000 after purchasing an additional 7,927,238 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $567,483,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 266.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,146,337 shares of the company's stock worth $380,136,000 after purchasing an additional 3,014,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $236,682,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company's stock.

Colgate-Palmolive Company Profile

Colgate-Palmolive Company NYSE: CL is a global consumer products company focused on oral care, personal care, home care and pet nutrition. Its portfolio includes toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, body washes, deodorants, soaps, household cleaning products and pet food and treats.

The company markets many of its products under well-known brands, including Colgate, Palmolive, elmex, meridol, Protex, Softsoap, Ajax, Irish Spring, Speed Stick, Tom's of Maine and Hill's Science Diet.

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