Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Stock Price Target Lowered at Bank of America

Key Points

• Bank of America lowered Colgate-Palmolive’s price target from $102 to $100 while maintaining a “buy” rating, implying roughly 13.4% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable overall, with 13 buy ratings and seven holds; the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $98.11.
• Colgate-Palmolive beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.99 EPS versus the $0.95 consensus, while revenue rose 4.9% year over year to $5.36 billion.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by analysts at Bank of America from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report issued on Friday. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Bank of America's price objective points to a potential upside of 13.39% from the stock's previous close.

CL has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and issued a $101.00 price objective (up from $99.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.11.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

NYSE:CL opened at $88.19 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average price of $89.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.77. Colgate-Palmolive has a twelve month low of $74.54 and a twelve month high of $99.33. The company has a market capitalization of $70.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.33.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 9.68% and a return on equity of 464.63%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John T. Cahill sold 4,170 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.37, for a total transaction of $389,352.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 28,373 shares in the company, valued at $2,649,187.01. This represents a 12.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 161,021 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $14,801,050.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 362,231 shares in the company, valued at $33,296,273.52. The trade was a 30.77% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 175,191 shares of company stock valued at $16,110,903. Insiders own 0.43% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Colgate-Palmolive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CL. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 29.0% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 639,604 shares of the company's stock worth $58,639,000 after buying an additional 143,812 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the 2nd quarter valued at $567,483,000. Brandywine Financial Group boosted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 35,612.3% during the 1st quarter. Brandywine Financial Group now owns 72,853 shares of the company's stock worth $6,209,000 after purchasing an additional 72,649 shares during the period. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the 1st quarter valued at $91,149,000. Finally, Robinhood Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the 2nd quarter valued at $11,554,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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