New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Has $9.35 Million Stake in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) by 49,810.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 102,816 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 102,610 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $9,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the fourth quarter valued at about $912,375,000. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,828,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3,529.8% in the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 37,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,396,000 after buying an additional 36,322 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 47,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,309,000 after buying an additional 11,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 815,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,159,000 after acquiring an additional 35,315 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $92.00 to $83.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.06.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Colgate-Palmolive stock opened at $93.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.80. Colgate-Palmolive has a 12-month low of $85.32 and a 12-month high of $109.30. The company has a market capitalization of $75.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is an increase from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.09%.

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.