Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 19,967 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 6.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 309,098 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 19,967 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $29,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Union Savings Bank grew its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 309 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. PSI Advisors LLC grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 4,971.4% in the 1st quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Finally, Core Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on CL. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Hsbc Global Res cut Colgate-Palmolive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $109.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Colgate-Palmolive

In other Colgate-Palmolive news, Director Martina Hundmejean sold 2,313 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total transaction of $240,228.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,220,874.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Panagiotis Tsourapas sold 14,794 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.94, for a total value of $1,522,894.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $529,729.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Martina Hundmejean sold 2,313 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total value of $240,228.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,220,874.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 43,490 shares of company stock valued at $4,486,063. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of CL stock opened at $106.50 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $100.11 and a 200 day moving average of $93.75. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $67.62 and a 52 week high of $106.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.90.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 470.19% and a net margin of 14.21%. The company had revenue of $5.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 19th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

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.