Arizona State Retirement System Boosts Stake in Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL - Free Report) by 4.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 232,696 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 9,364 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $21,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter valued at about $912,375,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,922,994 shares of the company's stock worth $629,369,000 after buying an additional 1,816,865 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Colgate-Palmolive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $111,738,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 70.2% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,808,110 shares of the company's stock worth $255,285,000 after buying an additional 1,158,060 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 10,601.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,105,379 shares of the company's stock worth $103,574,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Colgate-Palmolive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $101.20.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE CL traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $87.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,197,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,854,217. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.96, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $71.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 0.37. Colgate-Palmolive Company has a 12 month low of $85.32 and a 12 month high of $109.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.46.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 461.04% and a net margin of 14.52%. The business had revenue of $4.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. The business's revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive Company will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. Colgate-Palmolive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.76%.

Colgate-Palmolive announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.