Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 82,456 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 24.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 256,034 shares of the company’s stock after selling 82,456 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $23,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 11,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,012,000 after buying an additional 1,017 shares during the last quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Vestcor Inc lifted its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 292,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,552,000 after acquiring an additional 5,745 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 56,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,162,000 after purchasing an additional 3,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Essential Planning LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter worth $2,901,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Down 0.8 %

CL opened at $89.80 on Monday. Colgate-Palmolive has a fifty-two week low of $85.32 and a fifty-two week high of $109.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $72.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $89.02 and its 200 day moving average is $94.67.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $96.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” 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 given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.72.

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.