Huntington National Bank Boosts Stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 178,640 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,811 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $16,240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $912,375,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter worth $348,718,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 1,088.8% in the 4th quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,569,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,584,000 after buying an additional 2,353,268 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,132,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,436,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,028,170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,784,411 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective 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. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.06.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

Shares of CL opened at $93.65 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40. Colgate-Palmolive has a fifty-two week low of $85.32 and a fifty-two week high of $109.30. The company has a market cap of $75.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $90.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $93.36.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.01. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 477.77% and a net margin of 14.38%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. On average, 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 share buyback plan on Thursday, March 20th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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 given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is currently 59.09%.

Colgate-Palmolive Company 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.