Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Given New $95.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) had its price objective boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $91.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. TheStreet raised shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a c+ rating to a b+ rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $91.44.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

CL opened at $91.90 on Monday. Colgate-Palmolive has a 1 year low of $67.62 and a 1 year high of $92.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.21, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The company has a market capitalization of $75.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $88.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.99.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 485.40%. The business had revenue of $5.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.15, for a total transaction of $4,157,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 274,179 shares in the company, valued at $22,797,983.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Noel R. Wallace sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.15, for a total transaction of $4,157,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 274,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,797,983.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Daniels sold 3,538 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.67, for a total value of $299,562.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,054,629.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 159,048 shares of company stock worth $13,336,846. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Colgate-Palmolive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $731,843,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,133,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,561,340,000 after acquiring an additional 4,625,472 shares during the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 4,162.6% in the fourth quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,016,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,968,988 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Colgate-Palmolive in the first quarter valued at $130,622,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 27.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,597,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199,660 shares in the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.