Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Acquires 959 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 89,908 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 959 shares during the quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $8,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CL. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,436,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,028,170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784,411 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,193,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,095,325,000 after purchasing an additional 552,949 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,526,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $988,997,000 after buying an additional 557,492 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,542,000 after buying an additional 2,132,747 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 65.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,749,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $700,642,000 after buying an additional 2,674,807 shares in the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Up 1.3 %

CL stock opened at $86.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $90.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.76. Colgate-Palmolive has a 12 month low of $82.68 and a 12 month high of $109.30.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.01. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CL. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $101.00 target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.16.

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.