Evercore Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Stock

Key Points

• Evercore raised Colgate-Palmolive’s price target to $101 from $100 and maintained an “outperform” rating, implying approximately 14.5% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall: 13 analysts rate the stock a Buy and seven a Hold, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average target price of $98.11.
• Colgate-Palmolive exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.99 in EPS versus the $0.95 consensus, while revenue rose 4.9% year over year to $5.36 billion. Meanwhile, company insiders sold more than $16 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) had its price objective raised by research analysts at Evercore from $100.00 to $101.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Evercore's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 14.52% from the stock's previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $104.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 price target (up from $99.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings lowered Colgate-Palmolive from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.11.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of CL stock opened at $88.19 on Thursday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $89.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.31 billion, a PE ratio of 35.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.82, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Colgate-Palmolive has a 1-year low of $74.54 and a 1-year high of $99.33.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Noel Wallace sold 161,021 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 362,231 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,296,273.52. This trade represents a 30.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Panagiotis Tsourapas sold 10,000 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.05, for a total value of $920,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 64,901 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,974,137.05. This represents a 13.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 175,191 shares of company stock worth $16,110,903 over the last ninety days. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Colgate-Palmolive

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CL. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 219.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 6,466 shares of the company's stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 4,439 shares in the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 122.2% in the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 471 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3,774.1% during the 3rd quarter. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,046 shares of the company's stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 955.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 50,815 shares of the company's stock worth $4,336,000 after purchasing an additional 46,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ANB Bank grew its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 117.9% during the third quarter. ANB Bank now owns 14,872 shares of the company's stock worth $1,269,000 after buying an additional 8,047 shares in the last quarter. 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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