Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Sells 17,000 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 73.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,000 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CL. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 38.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,644,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132,747 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 19,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $876,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 218.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 12,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 8,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 3,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Shares of CL stock opened at $87.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.92. Colgate-Palmolive has a fifty-two week low of $85.32 and a fifty-two week high of $109.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $91.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.38. The company has a market capitalization of $71.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.39.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 477.77% and a net margin of 14.38%. The firm had revenue of $4.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is presently 58.76%.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 20th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on CL shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays cut their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.39.

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.