K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Trims Stock Position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc lowered its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 75.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,080 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,510 shares during the quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $724,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 27.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,597,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199,660 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter valued at $62,728,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 92.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,436,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,468,000 after buying an additional 688,733 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 225.4% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 930,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,137,000 after buying an additional 644,205 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 188.5% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 883,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,809,000 after buying an additional 577,114 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Colgate-Palmolive

In other Colgate-Palmolive news, insider Jennifer Daniels sold 3,538 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.67, for a total transaction of $299,562.46. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,054,629.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Colgate-Palmolive news, Director C Martin Harris sold 2,760 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.50, for a total transaction of $233,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,272 shares in the company, valued at $1,628,484. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Daniels sold 3,538 shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.67, for a total transaction of $299,562.46. Following the sale, the insider now owns 59,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,054,629.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 232,371 shares of company stock valued at $19,505,099. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CL. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.50.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

Shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock traded up $1.72 on Friday, reaching $91.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,541,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,968,951. The company has a market capitalization of $74.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.42. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52-week low of $67.62 and a 52-week high of $92.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $87.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.59.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 509.75% and a net margin of 11.82%. The business had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.5 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.94%.

Colgate-Palmolive 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.