Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Board of Directors Authorizes Share Buyback Program

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on CL shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $121.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $96.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.72.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

Colgate-Palmolive stock opened at $90.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40. The company has a market capitalization of $73.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.38. Colgate-Palmolive has a twelve month low of $85.32 and a twelve month high of $109.30.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a boost 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 2.30%. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is presently 56.82%.

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.