GAMMA Investing LLC Invests $364,000 in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 4,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. &PARTNERS boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 17,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 682 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 2.7% during the third quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 5,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 2.7% during the third quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Autumn Glory Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 5,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. 80.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Colgate-Palmolive

In other news, Director C Martin Harris sold 2,760 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 19,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,628,484. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director C Martin Harris sold 2,760 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 19,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,628,484. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory Malcolm sold 8,930 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.35, for a total transaction of $762,175.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $686,470.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 232,371 shares of company stock valued at $19,505,099. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CL. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James upgraded Colgate-Palmolive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut Colgate-Palmolive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays upped their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.50.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Performance

NYSE CL opened at $88.87 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.97, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.42. Colgate-Palmolive has a twelve month low of $67.62 and a twelve month high of $90.37. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.25. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.89 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 11.82% and a return on equity of 509.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.5 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. This is a boost from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Colgate-Palmolive’s dividend payout ratio is 71.94%.

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.