Hartford Financial Management Inc. Sells 314 Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Hartford Financial Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,220 shares of the company’s stock after selling 314 shares during the quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 65.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,749,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $700,642,000 after acquiring an additional 2,674,807 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,132,747 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% during the 3rd 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. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,091,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $462,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,731 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 864.1% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 777,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,749,000 after purchasing an additional 697,168 shares during the last quarter. 80.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CL shares. TD Cowen cut their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $101.00 to $95.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $96.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.00.

Colgate-Palmolive Price Performance

NYSE:CL opened at $90.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $74.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $91.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.46, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.04. Colgate-Palmolive has a one year low of $82.68 and a one year high of $109.30.

Colgate-Palmolive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Colgate-Palmolive news, CFO Stanley J. Sutula III sold 45,410 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.11, for a total transaction of $4,273,535.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,456,283.86. This represents a 55.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.