Mirova Purchases 6,693 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Mirova increased its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Free Report) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,347 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,693 shares during the quarter. Colgate-Palmolive makes up 1.5% of Mirova's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Mirova's holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $8,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CL. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company's stock valued at $793,542,000 after buying an additional 2,132,747 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 288,050 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,903,000 after purchasing an additional 21,862 shares during the period. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 43,957 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060 shares during the period. Chelsea Counsel Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 10.0% during the third quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 5,500 shares of the company's stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Fulcrum Equity Management grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.0% during the third quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 5,280 shares of the company's stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on CL. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $105.00 target price (down from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Colgate-Palmolive presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $102.17.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

NYSE CL traded up $1.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $94.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,658,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,653,880. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $85.32 and a 52 week high of $109.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40. The firm has a market cap of $76.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $91.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.27.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 477.77% and a net margin of 14.38%. The business had revenue of $4.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 reacquire up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Colgate-Palmolive's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.