Colgate-Palmolive Company $CL Shares Sold by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co reduced its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 30.9%, holding 12,811 shares valued at $1.2 million after selling 5,721 shares in the first quarter.
• Colgate-Palmolive recently reported earnings of $0.92 per share, exceeding analyst expectations and showing a revenue increase of 1.0% from the previous year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52, yielding 2.5%, with a payout ratio of 58.43%.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lowered its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL - Free Report) by 30.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,811 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,721 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co's holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $1,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 18.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,009,078 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,186,651,000 after purchasing an additional 5,269,140 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the first quarter valued at $217,593,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 34.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,980,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $747,762,000 after purchasing an additional 2,045,191 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 45.0% in the first quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,562,968 shares of the company's stock valued at $521,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,727,105 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 10,601.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,105,379 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,574,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095,050 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $109.00 to $106.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $83.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.00.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of CL stock traded down $0.71 on Friday, hitting $83.35. The stock had a trading volume of 3,169,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,435,723. Colgate-Palmolive Company has a 1 year low of $82.29 and a 1 year high of $106.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.79, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company's 50 day moving average price is $85.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.54.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.03. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 377.63% and a net margin of 14.55%.The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. Colgate-Palmolive's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive Company will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. Colgate-Palmolive's payout ratio is presently 58.43%.

About Colgate-Palmolive

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.