Mizuho Securities USA LLC Sells 12,454 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL)

Key Points

• Mizuho Securities USA LLC sold 12,454 shares of Colgate-Palmolive Company, reducing its holdings by 16.1% in the 1st quarter, bringing their total ownership to 64,980 shares valued at approximately $6 million.
• The company reported an EPS of $0.92 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.89, while its revenue grew by 1.0% year-over-year to $5.11 billion.
• Colgate-Palmolive announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, reflecting an annual yield of 2.5% and a payout ratio of 58.43%.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lowered its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL - Free Report) by 16.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,980 shares of the company's stock after selling 12,454 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $6,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,758,257 shares of the company's stock worth $7,660,749,000 after acquiring an additional 455,198 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,497,819 shares of the company's stock worth $863,447,000 after acquiring an additional 993,328 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 34.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,980,387 shares of the company's stock worth $747,762,000 after buying an additional 2,045,191 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.7% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,176,598 shares of the company's stock worth $672,447,000 after buying an additional 253,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,798,821 shares of the company's stock worth $617,359,000 after buying an additional 246,908 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $96.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $83.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $98.92.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

NYSE CL traded down $1.69 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $84.66. 1,519,544 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,232,065. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.07. Colgate-Palmolive Company has a 1 year low of $82.40 and a 1 year high of $109.30. The company has a market cap of $68.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 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.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Colgate-Palmolive Company will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Colgate-Palmolive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.